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Dedicated to preserving the legacy of innovative industrialist Allen Penfield, this museum has exhibits explaining his work using electricity in the process of iron-ore separation. This was the first industrial application of electricity. The museum, 3 mi southwest of Crown Point, also houses many Civil War artifacts and equipment on its 550-acre site.
Williamsburg’s premier reading series takes place year-round at a narrow bar in a converted train car; it's free to the public, has been patronized by Jonathan Ames and Dani Shapiro, and is held every other Thursday evening. There's also a poetry series, the second Friday of every month.
On the bank of the Pocantico River sits this 18th-century farm and provisioning plant owned by Frederick Philipse III, whose Dutch family owned most of the land in the region. Guides in period costume conduct tours of the Dutch stone house filled with 17th- and 18th-century antiques. The museum focuses, however, on the lives and stories of the 23 enslaved Africans who lived here and on slavery in the colonial north. Check out the water-powered gristmill, 18th-century New World Dutch barn, slave garden, and reconstructed tenant house.
As the region's largest producer, Pindar can attract visitors three-deep at the bar, with a fun crowd enjoying ample free tastes of approachable wines. Tours are a real education for beginners and experienced hands alike; on November weekends a special tour shows how sparkling wine is made. The Mythology Meritage is a standout, and, on the sweeter side, the Sweet Scarlet and Winter White are easy drinking for wine newbies.
The home of insurance magnate William Robertson Coe from 1910 to 1955, Planting Fields is now a public arboretum with 160 acres of gardens and plant collections and 250 acres of lawns and woodlands. Two greenhouse complexes nurture native plants. Coe Hall, the estate's magnificent Tudor-style manor, is filled with period furnishings and antiques, including windows from the home of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Guided tours of the house are available.
The house where abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock painted his masterpieces is now a museum and study center. You can see the paint-splattered floor of his studio, plus exhibits on Pollock and his wife and fellow artist, Lee Krasner. Call for a schedule of art exhibits, lectures, workshops, and guided tours.
The first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to posters, this spot was opened in 2019 by a group of poster enthusiasts who saw a gaping hole in the city's museum scene and decided to, ahem, poster over it. The museum hosts a series of moving exhibitions, Past shows have included the work of Czech art nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha and 1970s Blaxploitation movie posters, among other themes. There's free admission every Friday.
This gallery, first opened in the East Village in 1984 and open in TriBeCa since 2013, shows new and established conceptual artists of all ages. Postmasters exhibits both young and established artists working in all media, though it seeks out new forms of creative expression that are reflective of the current time.
A steep, serpentine, half-mile climb leads to a series of carvings chiseled into a prominent sandstone outcropping. With only slight sarcasm, the whitewashed carvings are noted as the "Rushmore of the East." According to local lore, Zadock Pratt commissioned sculptor Andrew W. Pearse to create the cameo-like carvings in exchange for room and board. Images of Pratt's son George, a colonel who was killed in the Civil War, and Pratt's favorite horse are visible from the mountainside as you hike.
Prospect Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway. The 5-mi corkscrew road takes you most of the way up 2,035-foot Prospect Mountain. From the parking lot it's just 100 feet to the summit, which you may reach via a shuttle. The views can stretch to 100 mi and take in up to five states, along with Lake George and the High Peaks region. You may also hike all the way up from the village.
The Prospect Park Visitor Center is surrounded by gardens and has tourist information, exhibits, and a snack bar. The visitor center's Adventure Theater shows the "thrill film" Niagara: Legends of Adventure ($11), on a 45-foot-tall screen.
The 282-foot-tall Prospect Point Observation Tower offers dramatic views of all three falls from an observation deck high above the gushing waters. When the Maid of the Mist is in operation, you can take a glass elevator to boat launch at the base of the tower.
The 1829 mansion, run by the Geneva Historical Society, contains period rooms and local history exhibits. It's a good place to orient yourself to Geneva's rich social and cultural history.
Local historical memorabilia and changing exhibits fill this former 19th-century schoolhouse, once attended by children of West Point Foundry workers. A permanent installation and video chronicle the history of the foundry. Paintings, drawings, photographs, and other objects and artifacts round out the museum's collection.
Adjacent to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, these 39 acres include rose and herb gardens, an arboretum, and plantings especially designed to attract bees and birds. An environmentally friendly visitor center uses solar energy and recycles gray water. To learn more about what you're looking at, use the garden's guides, like the summer plant walk guide, the Indigenous Heritage plant guide, or the winter plant walk guide.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park is home to the intimate Queens Zoo, featuring animals of North and South America. The 18-acre facility includes pumas, Andean bears, Canadian lynx, and southern pudus, the world’s smallest deer species. The zoo also maintains a farm with domestic animals including sheep, goats, horses, rabbits, and more. The last ticket is sold 30 minutes before closing.
Housed in an 1892 freight station, the museum exhibits a Reading Railroad track car, a 1907 snowplow, and a 1925 Long Island Rail Road caboose. Admission includes a guided tour and admission and tour of the Riverhead site, where most of the train cars reside and much of the restoration work takes place. If you want to make a day of it, for an extra fee, ride the nearby LIRR for a tour of both sites.
More than a home for old railroad cars, this museum, with another location in Greenport, outlines the history and development of Long Island railroads. Created in 1990, the museum and its curators preserve and restore cars and artifacts that contributed to the island's communities and industries. A World's Fair miniture train ride operates spring through autumn, weather permitting. Admission includes a guided tour of both sites. If you want to make a day of it, for an extra fee ride the nearby LIRR for transportation between the sites.
The winery is a boutique producer of high-end merlot, but the lavish Spanish mission–style winery, built with wrought iron and stone, is worth a visit on its own. The best-selling wines here are the First Label Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and La Fontana 2010 Bordeux-style blend. Live music takes place on Sunday.
Three generations of the Townsend family, renowned merchants and ship traders, lived in this colonial saltbox structure dating from the American Revolution. Sally Townsend was responsible for alerting her father to the fact that a certain Benedict Arnold was going to betray his country. Many of the original family furnishings are in the house, and there are rotating exhibits of Civil War memorabilia and holiday decorations. The house-museum reveals much about Oyster Bay from the time of the Revolution through the town's affluent Victorian period.
The 19th-century Carr Building contains the historical society's offices as well as a research library that, through old photos, maps, diaries, and letters, documents Troy's development from the 1800s through the following century. Next door is the Hart-Cluett House, an 1827 Federal town house with a white marble exterior and period furnishings; tours are available by reservation.
