Morris-Jumel Mansion

As my chum and I made our way up Manhattan last Saturday, one of my other friends messaged me (upon figuring out what we were doing) and asked if we were stopping at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. The name wasn't familiar, but a quick check confirmed it wasn't too far off our official itinerary. And how can you not stop by the oldest house in NYC (especially when it's not clear you're ever going to be in this neighborhood again)? So off we went.

You'd never know this place was here, even from two blocks away. It's very much tucked away on a hidden block on the eastern side of the island (up where everything is super narrow and you can probably walk across Manhattan in five minutes) and has somehow managed to hold its own over the past few centuries. To get to it from Broadway you have to go past a few run-down streets - at no point did we feel like we were in danger or anything like that; it's just a little skuzzy up in these parts.

After moseying around the property for a minute or two, we walked up to the door and I impulsively rang the bell. One of the employees opened the door for us and led us in. I will say that I've spent an above average amount of time in ye olde museums/houses like this; my mother's idea of a great childhood vacation was visiting presidential homesteads. If you go into one of these in July, expect to be pretty hot. They're not installing air conditioning in these places, and you're lucky to get a fan plugged in. This was not a respite from the heat by any means.

We were the only visitors on the premises at that time, and I didn't get the impression this place had been hopping at any other point in the day. There were about three employees on the first floor, all of whom were very pleasant and accommodating. We were given the option of paying $10 for a self-guided tour, and I believe $20 or so for a guided tour. We went with the $10 option, which I thought was a pretty decent deal and still included a few minutes' worth of info from one of the guides about the house's history before we were largely left to our own devices. Very cool. Neither of us are the type to dawdle so it was a pretty quick tour and we were in and out in about 10 or 15 minutes.

I don't know that this is a repeat destination, but as a one-off trip it was definitely an interesting detour.