840 Best Sights in New York, USA

Built in 1725 and full of beautifully preserved colonial antiques, the museum contains artifacts and exhibits illustrating Amagansett life from the colonial period through the 20th century. On summer weekends pony rides are given on the museum lawn, and twice during the season there are huge antiques sales full of local treasures. In a barn to the rear of the property is the Roy Lester Carriage Museum, which displays locally made horse-drawn carriages.

You can still play "catch the brass ring" at this 1920s carousel, housed in a round, gleaming glass structure, the highlight of Greenport's renovated waterfront.

The 8,000-acre preserve has more than 30 miles of historic carriage roads and trails, and more than 1,000 rock climbing routes. The Preserve's Visitor Center, on U.S. 44/Route 55 in Gardiner, is free to the public and includes an orientation theater, children's forest, and nature trails. You can also enter through the West Trapps and Coxing Trailheads in Gardiner, and the Spring Farm Trailhead in High Falls. Visitors enjoy spectacular mountain views as they hike, run, bike, rock climb, ride horses, cross-country ski, and snowshoe.

The Montauk Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse still in operation in the state and a well-known Long Island landmark, is perched solidly on a bluff in Montauk Point State Park. President George Washington signed an order to build the lighthouse in 1792. Climb the 137 iron steps to the top for spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and, to the northeast, Block Island, or take a moment to ponder the touching memorial to local fishermen lost at sea. The museum, in the former lightkeeper's quarters, displays a wealth of photos and artifacts.

This 23-room mansion, once the Livingston family estate, sits on 434 acres along the Hudson River north of Rhinebeck. Built in the Federal style, the mansion was remodeled in the mid-19th century by noted American architect Andrew Jackson Davis, who applied a classical revival style. The well-maintained house is closed for restoration, but the grounds alone are worth seeing; they encompass orchards, flower gardens, and ancient trees, and offer plenty of picnic-perfect spots.

Opened in 1958, the track has year-round harness racing, a daily-double race, and trifectas and perfectas with wagering. Inside is a Vegas-style "racino" with video lottery terminals. The all-you-can-eat buffet is first-rate.

Manhattan's oldest surviving house was built in 1765 for the Morris family, on the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people, and if walls could talk, this house would have stories. In fact, it has songs: Lin Manuel-Miranda composed part of Hamilton here. This National Historic Landmark once served as headquarters to General George Washington and then the British military and Hessian troops during the American Revolutionary War. It survived the Battle of Harlem Heights in 1776 and a few months later, its barn held American prisoners after the Battle of Fort Washington. At war's end, the house was confiscated, and for a while it lived a life as a tavern and rest stop for travelers. In the early 1800s, the house was owned by wealthy French merchant Stephen Jumel, who spent time restoring the house while living out of wedlock for several years before marrying a woman of no station who spent a lot of money trying to be accepted by New York society. The home welcomed such notable figures as Louis Philippe (King of France), Joseph Bonaparte (elder brother of Napoléon Bonaparte), and Henry Clay. When Jumel died and left everything to his wife, she married Aaron Burr. Yes, that Aaron Burr. She divorced him after four months after he made a dent in her bank account. Today the house is a museum with eight period rooms on display, fine furnishings and portraits, beautiful architecture, and all those stories to tell.  Call ahead to confirm access while the building undergoes exterior restoration work and accessibility upgrades throughout 2025 and 2026.

The National Shrine of San Gennaro, a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, is the high point of Most Precious Blood Church's richly painted interior but otherwise the church has a very local feel. It becomes a focal point during the annual Feast of San Gennaro. Tours of the church and the nearby St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral can be booked through  www.tommysnewyork.com.

Formed by a glacier that left undulating terrain upon its retreat, the 196 rolling acres of this cemetery are as much a park as they are the final resting place for more than 370,000 people. Among the more famous laid to rest here are suffragist Susan B. Anthony and anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass. The cemetery, dedicated in 1838, is one of the nation's oldest. Many headstones retain Victorian symbols such as the anchor, crown, obelisk, or sheaf of wheat. The city owns the cemetery, but a caretakers group called the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery offers tours.

Ever since a carriage road and observation tower were created in 1882, intrepid souls have ventured to the 3,365-foot summit to take in the sweeping vistas of Delaware and Schoharie counties and the Berkshire, Green, Adirondack, and Catskill mountains. (It's a bone-rattling drive up a steep gravel road). A 1926 wooden observation tower is under renovation at this writing, as are the steel fire tower and hiking trails. According to local lore, the mountain takes its name from an American Indian princess who drowned herself in a lake after her father killed her white lover and their child; the princess is supposedly buried on the mountain.

The county park, once a gentleman's farm, was named after a Lenape word meaning "by the swamp," because of its location near what is now part of the New York City watershed. A lively seasonal roster of special events is offered, including hayrides and demonstrations of blacksmithing, maple sugaring, and sheep shearing. Farm animals—sheep, chickens, pigs, goats, cows, horses—are permanent residents.

The exterior of this 1887 Orthodox synagogue-turned-museum (and community space), the first synagogue to be built by the many Eastern European Jews who settled in the Lower East Side in the late 19th century, is a striking mix of Romanesque, Gothic, and Moorish motifs. Inside are an exceptional hand-carved ark of mahogany and walnut (used to hold Torah scrolls), a sculptured wooden balcony, jewel-tone stained-glass windows, vibrantly painted and stenciled walls, and an enormous brass chandelier. Daily tours are included in the price of admission (check the website for times), and begin downstairs where interactive "touch tables" teach all ages about Eldridge Street, the Lower East Side, and the Jewish immigrant experience. The crowning piece of the building's decades-long restoration is a stained-glass window by artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans, which weighs 6,000 pounds and has more than 1,200 pieces of glass.

Housed in a glass-and-glazed-terra-cotta building on the rim of Columbus Circle, the museum is an epicenter of experimental and innovative craft, art, and design, with a focus on contemporary jewelry, glass, ceramic, fiber, wood, and mixed-media works. Pieces are human scale, with many neatly housed in display cases rather than hanging on walls. Exhibitions offer new ways of thinking, experiencing, and telling stories about art and design. Recent special exhibitions included "Barbie: A Cultural Icon," a hugely popular exploration of the doll's history and impact on fashion and popular culture. The gift shop has an excellent selection of MAD merch, housewares, jewelry, and other artful items. Free docent-led tours are offered Friday to Sunday at 11:30 and 2:30. The top floor houses Robert at MAD, a full-service restaurant with glorious views of Central Park through floor-to-ceiling windows.

The curtain lifted on the new Museum of Broadway in 2022, in its prime location next door to Broadway’s oldest venue, the Lyceum Theatre. Inside you’ll find three stories filled with 300 years of Broadway history, from early New York theater through vaudeville through daring, unforgettable 20th-century productions. The stage is set with a short film, with the next acts spotlighting hundreds of individual musicals and plays—and the people who make them. Expect to be dazzled by costumes, props, sketches, rare photos, videos, and groundbreaking moments from beloved shows, including West Side Story, Oklahoma!, The Wiz, Hair, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Cabaret, and many more. The museum is very photo-friendly, so be ready to drop yourself into sets and strike the poses of your favorite characters. As you explore from the top to bottom floors (all of which are accessible), leave a good 20 minutes for one of the last exhibits, “The Making of a Broadway Show,” to learn about all the departments buzzing behind the scenes of each production, like song- and playwriting, set design, lighting and sound design, music, and the brilliantly talented pros who make Broadway shine.

Founded in 1980, MOCA is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of the Chinese people and their descendants in the United States. The current building, near the boundary between Chinatown and Little Italy (many would say it's in Little Italy), was designed by Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. MOCA's core exhibition on Chinese American history, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America, includes artworks, personal and domestic artifacts, historical documentation, and films. Chinese laundry tools, a traditional general store, and antique business signs are some of the unique objects on display. Rotating exhibitions are held in another gallery. MOCA also sponsors workshops, neighborhood walking tours, lectures, and family events.

Inside the Empire Stores building is this small, family-friendly museum that does a deep dive into the food and drinks that tantalize our taste buds and appease our appetites. Going beyond what we see served at the dining table, the rotating interactive exhibitions here explore the science, culture, history, and communities behind the scenes of our meals. 

Founded in 1901, the Society of Illustrators holds many events and programs at this former town house--turned-museum. There are eclectic exhibitions on comics, science fiction, fashion, animation and 3-D, and historic illustrations from the permanent collection of 2,500 pieces, including the holdings of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). In addition, there are lectures, costumed sketch nights and more. On the third floor, order a drink from the 128 Bar, which sports Norman Rockwell's "The Dover Coach," a large-scale oil painting for the Saturday Evening Post that was donated by the illustrator himself.

In a granite, 85-foot-tall hexagon at the southern end of Battery Park City, this museum aims to educate visitors on the "broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust." Architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo designed the six-sided museum to be symbolic of the Star of David, and its three floors of exhibits demonstrate the dynamism of Jewish culture. Visitors enter through a gallery that provides context for the early-20th-century artifacts on the first floor: an elaborate screen hand-painted for the fall harvest festival of Sukkoth, tools used by Jewish tradesmen, and wedding invitations. Other exhibits present the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism and the ravages of the Holocaust. Signs of hope are also on display, including a trumpet that Louis Bannet, “the Dutch Louis Armstrong,” played for three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau inmate orchestra. The third floor covers postwar Jewish life. The museum's east wing has a theater, memorial garden, library, galleries, and café. A free audio guide, with narration by Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman, is available at the admissions desk.

Walk through replicas of the human heart and brain; crawl, jump, and slide through the five-floor Science Playhouse; and learn about cave formations exploring the Discovery Cave. The MOST, as it's called, is a hands-on science museum built to entertain and educate. It occupies a former armory and includes an IMAX theater.

The provocative collection at this 14,000-square-foot museum features artwork as well as intriguing ephemera like vintage pornographic photos and condom tins, S&M paraphernalia, antimasturbation devices from the 1800s, and explicit film clips. Interactive exhibits include the multifloor "Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival." Titillating special exhibitions have probed such topics as desire on the Internet, the sex lives of animals, and erotic content in the media. Although the subject matter is given serious curatorial treatment, the museum experience is geared to fun and the gift shop is full of fun sexual kitsch. Only patrons over 21 are admitted, and the museum is open late—until midnight on Friday and Saturday and 10 pm on other evenings—which makes it a great date night venue.

The city's present, past, and future are explored through visually engaging exhibits on subjects such as architecture, fashion, history, pop culture, and politics in a Georgian Colonial Revival building, designed for the museum in the 1930s, along 5th Avenue's Museum Mile. The award-winning, ongoing exhibition New York at Its Core explores the sweeping and diverse facets of the city's 400-year history through artifacts, photographs, archival film, and interactive digital experiences. Timescapes, a 28-minute innovative media projection, illustrates New York's physical expansion and population changes (free headsets available with translations in French, Spanish, and Mandarin), or Activist New York, an ongoing exploration of the city's history of social activism. You also can find New York–centric lectures, films, family programming, and self-guided and curated tours here. The on-site Chalsty's Café serves sweet treats, savory snacks, breakfast, and lunch, and the Museum Shop is a great place to pick up a Big Apple souvenir. After your visit, cross the street and stroll through the Vanderbilt Gate to enter the Conservatory Garden, one of Central Park's gems.

Experience the natural history of New York State through exhibits called "Beneath an Ancient Sea," "Where Dinosaurs Walked," and "A World Carved by Ice." Whale and mastodon skeletons, along with audiovisual theater presentations, help prepare museumgoers for hands-on labs featuring fossils, dinosaurs, and ice. The on-site Paleontological Research Institution runs the museum.

Contemporary painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and video works by an impressive array of international artists are on display in this light-filled space with high ceilings and a seasonal sculpture garden. Among the artists are Viola Frey, known for her heroic-scale ceramic male and female figures, and a strong group of young artists embarking on their first solo shows.

Begun in 1977 as an adjunct to the Cornell Cooperative Extension facility, the arboretum occupies 8 acres with more than 400 unusual trees and shrubs. The herb garden has 300-plus species, and there's a popular Japanese meditation garden. The entrance is marked by a little shack on the far side of the Cooperative Extension Center parking lot.

The state-chartered museum's extensive collection of bottles dates from the 1700s. On-site is a glassworks that sometimes hosts a sale of contemporary art-glass pieces. The museum is 7 mi south of Saratoga Springs.

Just a short five-minute stroll from the ferry terminal, this museum sheds "light" on lighthouse history throughout America. It's housed not in a lighthouse, but in the foundry that was once part of an 18-building complex for the U.S. Lighthouse Service's General Depot, the center of all lighthouse operations across the country from 1864 to 1939. Self-guided tours through the small museum reveal miniature scale models of many recognizable American lighthouses, an exhibit on the technology of Fresnel lenses, plus displays about famous lighthouse keepers, who collectively played an important role in American maritime history.