51 Best Sights in New York, USA

The three-story brick house and its 34 acres were the home of the 19th-century utopian Oneida Community, founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes. The sect believed that the second coming of Christ had already occurred and that a new Eden could be achieved on Earth. Followers considered themselves sinless and believed in the sharing of property and spouses. The group, which supported itself by making silk thread, animal traps, canned foods, and silverware, eventually led to the formation of tableware manufacturer Oneida Ltd. The mansion, a 93,000-square-foot National Historic Landmark with beautiful mansard roofs, was constructed in stages between 1861 and 1914 and contains 35 apartments (some occupied by descendants of the original community members), a large hall, a dining room, and a museum. Guided tours are the only way to see the interior.

The handsome 14-room Federal-style mansion on the Westfield village green was built in 1820. The Chautauqua County Historical Society runs the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is decorated in high Victorian style. Displays include Civil War documents and American Indian and military artifacts.

Built in 1832, this redbrick house, combining Federal and Greek Revival styles, provides a glimpse into the domestic life of the period 30 years before the Civil War. Retired merchant Seabury Tredwell and his descendants lived here from 1835 until 1933. The home became a museum in 1936, with the original furnishings and architectural features preserved; family memorabilia are on display. The fourth-floor servants' bedroom, where the family's staff slept and did some of their work, offers a look at the lives of Irish domestics in the mid-1800s. Guided tours are at noon, cover all five floors and the rear garden, and last about 75 minutes.

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.

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.

Wraparound porches, a balconied gable, and turrets provide evidence of the 1856 building's progression of architectural phases, from Italianate to Second Empire and finally Queen Anne. The mansion has served as the official residence of New York's governors since 1875. To see the interior, you must take one of the guided tours, which last about an hour; because visiting times are so limited, reserve at least two weeks in advance.

is one of the few former Long Island estates still intact, and today the grounds and 1906 Gold Coast mansion built by financier-sportsman John S. Phipps are open to the public. The mansion showcases the home's original furniture and the family's art and belongings; the beautiful 160-acre property includes formal gardens, fountains, woodlands, and lakes.

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.

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.

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.

Known for a time as the "summer White House," this 23-room Victorian was President Teddy Roosevelt's cherished family retreat from 1885 until his death in 1919. In addition to the original furnishings and some personal effects, the house contains animal heads and skins from Roosevelt's many hunting expeditions. The servants' quarters offer a behind-the-scenes look at life here.

Docents in period dress are on hand to take you on a tour of this historically important home dating back to 1697. The manor served as a military headquarters for the British Army during the Revolutionary War, and George Washington slept here after the war, in 1790. Today the 150-acre estate holds a substantial collection of antiques and historical exhibits depicting its early days. Special events including seasonal festivals, holiday celebrations, and art, antiques, and car shows are held here throughout the year.

Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, was the original owner of this 1763 Georgian mansion. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were among the notable figures who visited the house. Tours of the national historic landmark (the only way to see the interior) feature original family furnishings, artifacts, and paintings.

A guide in period costume escorts you through the 1830s home of Washington Irving, whose writings include classics like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. The eclectic building, one of the nation's earliest examples of romantic architecture, includes stepped gables that recall Dutch architecture and a curved roof modeled after that of a Spanish monastery. Sunnyside was often called America's Home, because it appeared in many landscape illustrations of the period. Irving's book-lined study is a highlight.

The west-side street where suffragist Susan B. Anthony lived from 1866 until her death in 1906 looks much like it did in her day. The tree out has been replaced by two smaller chestnuts, but many of the neighboring houses still look the same. You can tour the three-story redbrick Victorian and picture Anthony working to get women the right to vote. The visitor center next door was the home of a sister. A park one block north has a statue of Anthony and friend Frederick Douglass having tea.

Family portraits and period furnishings fill this 1798 Greek Revival home built for General Abraham Ten Broeck, a former Albany mayor. The tour takes you through the house and well-kept gardens.

At this living-history museum, costumed guides are strategically placed throughout the estate, which includes an 18th-century stone manor house and an 18th-century tavern. The house includes some of its original Georgian and Federal furnishings. Spinning, weaving, and other demonstrations are held in a tenant house adjacent to the tavern. Admission is by timed tour only.

The late owner, philanthropist Chauncey Stillman, envisioned his property as a grand European estate and fully realized his dream. The Georgian-style brick mansion surveys formal gardens inspired by the Italian Renaissance, complete with resident peacocks, fountains, a sculpture garden, and a dramatic view of the Catskills. The house has an important collection of paintings assembled by the owner. The stable block houses the carriage museum and a collection of coaching memorabilia.

The grand, Queen Anne–style Victorian home with a dramatic five-story circular tower was owned by the Suckley family for more than 140 years. The last family member to occupy the estate was Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, a distant cousin and close confidant of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (The movie Hyde Park on Hudson was based on their relationship). The main floor interiors were designed by New York City decorator Joseph Burr Tiffany, a cousin of the famed stained glass artist. Noted landscape architect Calvert Vaux designed the grounds, which have Hudson River views. There are weekend house tours around Christmas.

This 613-acre site includes the ancestral home of William Floyd, a politician, general, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and prominent Long Island plantation owner. Over a 250-year period, eight generations of his family occupied the estate, a satellite property of the Fire Island National Seashore 18 miles east of Sayville. The house began as a two-story wood-frame structure in 1724, and saw several renovations, including one in 1857 in which the house took on a Greek Revival style and another in the 1920s that expanded the mansion to its current 25 rooms. Tours of the property are available; leave plenty of time to explore the Old Mastic House, it's artifacts, and the grounds, which include several outbuildings and a cemetery.

Be prepared for mosquitoes and ticks in spring and summer.