Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site — Attraction in City of Albany

My daughter (who is into Revolutionary War history) was looking forward to seeing this place but we were only able to see the grounds and the Visitors Center. I called ahead to see if I could schedule a tour since it is their off- season but they refused even though they have multiple people on site. From November to April this place gives very few tours and none of them were while we were in town. Because I called, however, I learned that we can ring the doorbell of the Visitor's Center to be let in and that was pretty interesting to my middle-school aged children. What is interesting about the no-tours thing is that we saw multiple groups arrive and leave while we were there (though most didn't know you could go in the Visitor's Center because there are no signs and it looks closed) so it seems like they have the traffic to have maybe one tour a day. I was just surprised that you can't even schedule one even though they have people on site. :/ As for what we did see, it seems like it would be appealing to the people who are interested in Revolutionary War history (or are more extreme Hamilton fans) but not so much to people who aren't. The architecture (from the outside anyway) isn't particularly exciting and the family was typical upper-class for the day (meaning they owned slaves and had nice things). Maybe having a tour of the mansion would have given me a better appreciation but for what I did see, this was my impression...

The Schuyler Mansion is a unique look into Albany's historic past. The mansion was home to Philip Schuyler, his wife Catherine Van Rensselaer, and their children. When the mansion was constructed it was the largest residence in Albany, as well as the first building you would see from a ship on the Hudson River. Philip's wife Catherine, came from one of the richest families in all of American history. The mansion tour starts off in the visitors center where they have a model of what the estate looked like when it was constructed in the 1700's. The also have some artifacts from the mansion such as Schuyler's shoes. Once inside the mansion you will find that was it was well laid out with very spacious rooms for the time. Many rooms are also very brightly colored. Many important guests stayed in the mansion including George Washington, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Benedict Arnold. The tour guide did a good job describing the history and significance of each room. The guide also talked a good deal about Philip Schuyler's personal history, role in the American Revolution, and time as a US Senator. The tour lasted about an hour. Tour was different in that you would examine the rooms on your own first than the guide would describe them to you. If in Albany this...

Attended hourly tour of the Schuyler Mansion.

Guides were accommodating with a larger group than usual by splitting into two and conducting dual tours. The site itself was beautiful, the main house supplemented by a small selection of souvenirs to purchase, and a couple of rooms giving information about the preservation, history and archaeology of the site.

Guides were knowledgeable and friendly, encouraged questions, and explored a variety of facets of the house and family based on visitor interests and their own research, which included the war crimes of Gen. Schuyler and the family's slaves.

Fans of Hamilton will enjoy the connections, but be warned that there's no pandering to the musical's sanitised version of events!

Visit lasted approx. 50 minutes. Smaller children may find a lack of things to hold their interest as the mansion is mostly observational, with little interaction.

Limited disabled access (interior...