The Merchant's House Museum

The Merchant's House is the rare old New York house that never lost its contents. The Tredwells, a wealthy merchant family, lived here with their Irish servants for almost a century, and the period rooms and rear garden are filled with their own furnishings and possessions rather than borrowed props. The museum has also identified what it calls an intact site of the early Underground Railroad: a narrow passageway beneath a built-in chest of drawers, designed into the house in 1832 by its builder, the abolitionist Joseph Brewster, to shelter freedom-seekers.

The museum is open during an ongoing restoration; enter via Manuel Plaza at 35 East 4th Street. Self-guided visits run Wednesday through Sunday with no reservations, at $15.50 for adults and $10.50 for seniors and students as of October 2026; children under 12 are free, and paying cash saves 50 cents a ticket. The 75-minute guided tour costs $20.50 and is best reserved ahead. The house spans five floors of stairs with no air-conditioning or wheelchair access, and large bags must be checked.