Profile

Staten Island's answer to colonial Williamsburg, Historic Richmond Town covers twenty-five bucolic acres dotted with restored 19th-century farmhouses, tinsmith shops, general stores, and the nation's oldest wooden schoolhouse on its original site. The village began as a crossroads settlement whose central location helped it become the once-rural county's seat of government. As more people populated the area in the 1800s, grand buildings like the Greek Revival Third County Courthouse, were built. By 1898, the town's county functions had ended as Staten Island officially became a borough of New York City. A residential area until the 1930s, the neighborhood underwent another transformation when the Staten Island Historical Society transformed the old County Clerk's and Surrogate's Office into the town's first museum. Artifacts, books and archives were gathered, and in the 1950s the Historical Society signed a contract with New York City, pledging to create a living monument to the town's past and its people. Additional historic structures from elsewhere on Staten Island were moved to the site. Today, the recreation of yesteryear is complete with tours, exhibits, and, at select times, antiquarians in period dress. — Lindsay Damast

Visitors can get a lesson in public education at the schoolhouse, built in 1695. This National Historic Landmark also served as a church and a residence for ministers and teachers until 1701.

Tours
Hour-long tours are available Wednesday through Friday at 2:30 p.m.; and weekends at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The tour staff is ready to accommodate groups of 20, as well as teachers looking to coordinate in-class curriculum, and even campers.

Membership
If you become a member of the Staten Island Historical Society, you receive free admission, discounted museum store purchases, reduced fees for special seminars, and subscriptions to a number of publications.