12/7/25: We visited Thomas Edison's Glenmont Estate at Lewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey…read more We made our reservations online. The cost is $15 plus a $2 fee. If you have a national park visitors pass it's free. However, you'll only have to pay the $2 fee. Before the tour, you'll have to stop at the visitors center at the National Historic Park for a pass to enter Llewelyn Park. The park is located less than half mile from the estate. Ron was our guide. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the house. The Edison's had six children. Thomas had three children with his first wife. After the death of his first wife, he remarried a 20 year-old young woman named Mina. She raised those children along with their three children. The interior of the home has beautifully dark carved columns. Also, the house is beautifully furnished in a classy elegant manner. Our guide told us that Mr. Edison's wife Mina did a lot of entertaining in their beautiful dining room. During those dining times, Mr. Edison retreated to his bedroom because of his hearing loss. In addition, he wanted to work on his many projects. On the grounds of Glenmont, you'll find the gravesite of Thomas and Mina Edison. In addition, Mr. Edison had his antique car garage. The Glenmont Estate of Thomas Alva Edison is truly worthwhile visiting.

The Glenmont Estate was the home of Thomas Edison. Edison had the 29 room Queen Anne home built as…read morea wedding gift for his 20 year old second wife Mina Miller in 1887. Edison and Mina raised six children at Glenmont, three chilfren were with his first wife who passed away. During his time at Glenmont various high profile quests visited Glenmont including: Henry Ford and Helen Keller. Edison died in 1931 at Glenmont, as did his wife in 1947. Their gravesites are in the rear of the house and can be visited of your tour. Other structures on the property are a garage with antique autos, a greenhouse, a stable and gift shop. The home contains furnishings, lamps household items, a lot of taxidermy but little personal items that would indicate Edison lived there. Only the first floor was open for viewing. The few rooms open were roped off. Glenmont is operated by the National Park System. It is open for tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10-4 pm beginning in April. .Tickets for the car pass can be purchased at Edison's laboratory which is about a mile down the road. Although Edison had 1,093 patents, three stand out as prominent. His invention of the electric lighting system and phonograph were invented in Menlo Park N.J. while the motion picture industry was invented in West Orange, New Jersey. National Park Passes are honored. Only a handheld camera in the interior of the home can be used and photos are only for personal use. Posting on the internet is not allowed.

Small museum in a beautiful building. Interesting. Well curated. Take about an hour to walk through.read more

The building is the star of the show at this tiny museum, a 1900 no-expense-spared masterpiece with…read morea limestone exterior, high-ceilinged oak-trimmed interior, magnificent arches, leaded glass windows and grand spiral staircases. The stenciled and hand-painted brick interior alone is worth the visit, but there are few signs and no brochure about the James building's history of 67 years as the Madison public library. The old book stacks on the ground floor have been converted somewhat crudely to exhibit space, the stacks upper level is dedicated to museum staff. Don't miss the glass floor of the upper level or the enormous safe! The actual exhibits focus on farming and housekeeping implements like plows, butter-making tools and machinery to remove corn kernels from the cob, all very much aimed at children. When we visited the upstairs and lower level were both closed so were done in well under half an hour. Entrance is sometimes free, otherwise $5 for adults. Free parking on the street on the other side of the train tracks.

The Staten Island Museum is one of the many museums/buildings on the historic Snug Harbor grounds…read more Ive never been to Snug Harbor before and this was one of the first buildings I came upon. Front desk staff was super friendly and informative. The museum itself isn't very big and I Probably took about 30 minutes to view it. Id say the admission although suggested was definitely worth it. For me though Id say the architecture of the building itself both inside and out was more interesting to me than the exhibits themselves. Who knew Staten Island had such a good little museum? I look forward to coming here and again and will check their listings of events often.

I am smitten . You can't come to this museum without falling in love with…read more Staten Island. The staff positioned at the entry really were so welcoming and helpful. I am happy to have their teachings! Besides learning that this area of New York city had a terra-cotta factory & a Bubble Gum Factory. We learn about the businesses that employed the locals and the goods that Americans could enjoy! As well as the after effects of industry , environment and public health. Erasure poetry was clever. I had never heard of it before. Taking the pages of a book written by Robert Richard Randall. He was a shipmaster who was very kind to build buildings to house the sailors who worked their lives on boats and had absolutely no money , no housing and no financial security. So now this building has become a museum. Environmental fiber arts exhibit was pretty appropriate. This artist have woven plastics into amazing sculptures. Fascinating. Sad that recycling efforts are so low. So much non biodegradable mater. We could do better if we get outraged enough to contact officials to make a change. You will learn how they succeeded in the past with women activists that were able to ultimately clean up Fresh Kills area! Beautiful nature now. The staff recommended a stroll. I saw the statue of the founder of this building. Homage to such a kind man. The garden outside was a nice. I really recommend coming here. If I had my ukelele. This place was a delight in many many ways .

The South Sea Seaport Museum chronicles the history of lower Manhattan begining with Lenni Lenape…read morehabitation and Henry Hudson's 1609 discovery voyages. The development of New Amsterdam by the Dutch West Indies company (1624), the British seizing the city and renaming it New York after the Duke of York (1664-1776) and George Washington's inauguration as the first president of the United States in (1789) at Federal Hall. The seaport became a major hub of commerce, travel overseas (the Cunard line) and an important immigration center. The museum galleries are open Wed-Sun from 11-5. You can tour the Wavertree and and smaller Ambrose ship with a General Admission ticket of $18. There are free admission events as well. Check their website for details.

Macy's 4th of July: DO.NOT.WASTE.YOUR.MONEY! This is the absolute worts experience the museum has…read moreput together: the security was rude beyond reason; to make more money they added another zone; they packed people like sardines in a "hallway" made of rope, and considering that the view is already obstructed by the buildings on each side of pier 16, on top of that they had a tent right in the middle at the end of the pier obstructing the view even more. When purchasing the tickets they don't ask about especial accommodations for families with kids with special needs and then those families have to watch from the very back, completely wasting the money paid. They don't apply the rules to everyone: they said no chairs, but they let them pass security for a lot of people and space was even more to a premium.

Such an incredible landmark! The Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island, offers free access to…read moreexhibits on the statue's history, design, and symbolism, featuring the original torch, interactive displays, and an immersive theater. We absolutely loved this museum! It's interactive, informative and rich on history. It had been a long time dream of mine since I was younger to visit New York- specifically to see the Statue of Liberty. The museum itself provides a comprehensive experience filled with artifacts, photos, and a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of New York Harbor. Entrance to the museum is included with the cost of any standard ferry ticket to Liberty Island. My wife and I spent a few hours here as we basked in the glory of Lady Liberty. It was quite the experience. Highly recommend to anyone interested in learning about the history, construction, and global symbolism of Lady Liberty.

My first visit to Liberty Island was on Sep 10, 2008. The museum in its current form didn't exist…read morethen. What existed back then was on a much smaller scale, closer in size to a gift shop. The statue itself was closed to visitors. We spent less than an hour (mostly walking around the island and taking a breather) and then returned to the mainland. Our second and most recent visit was on Jun 23, 2025 as part of the Road Scholar's "American Mosaic - An NYC Exploration". It was a much different experience. Since our tickets were taken care off in advance, there was no waiting in line... except for the boat to take us from point A to point B. The museum has everything there is to know about Lady Liberty, from her history, design, construction to her continuing impact since. At the Inspiration Gallery, we had our photos taken at a kiosk and watched it appeared on the extra-large Becoming Liberty screen. We continued watching as our photo formed a collage with other visitors' photos in the shape of Lady Liberty. That was impressive. I was also impressed with the life-size replicas of Lady Liberty's face, feet and torch. While at the Inspiration Gallery, I happened to catch the second half of a park ranger's lecture about Lady Liberty. It was very informative. He spoke about Lady Liberty's history and what it meant to him, emphasizing the responsibility of exercising one's civil liberty. I didn't take as much pictures and videos as I should, but I'm glad with the ones I did took. At the Engagement Gallery - the historical part of the museum - I captured on video the entire "Making of the Statue" exhibit. [URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb2UdSV7S8k&list=PLWc5V5RzykolGJ1Zg4W6Immgorrga_X0f&index=4&t=55s] I also took two shots of the film "Liberty Enlightening the World" in the Immersive Theater. Co-sponsored by the Walt Disney Company and narrated by Diane Sawyer, it is shown in three parts, each on its own screens. This meant we sat on the floor, then got up, proceeded to the next screen, and repeated the sitting down and the getting up two more times. Quite an inconvenience. I guessed that must be the "Immersive" being alluded to by the theater name. We weren't able to enter the statue itself. Our tickets didn't include that. It requires a separate reservation of at least six to nine months in advance. Consequently, that affected the overall score. 4 stars is better than 2, which would have been my rating for the 2008 visit.

Interesting and small museum. Easy to see in a short period of time and it's very quiet and not…read morecrowded at all.

I wish I could give this museum more than three stars, because I love museums and opportunities to…read morelearn about world cultures. But my friend and I visited the Ukrainian Museum last Saturday, and, other than beautiful building, there just wasn't much to see! Admission is $15 per person, but we were in and out in less than 20 minutes. There is a small gallery upstairs, which housed one single contemporary piece. The basement gallery has some pottery and ceramics, but is really just a hallway gallery on the way to some classroom space on that level. So that leaves the main level, which had a simple exhibit on Volodymyr Tatlin, a Ukrainian artist and founder of Constructivism, Even this exhibit had very few pieces or artifacts, but some signage about his life and works. The museum is beautiful, but there just wasn't much in it (especially for a $15 admission). I probably wouldn't visit again unless they had an exhibit I was very interested in, given the size.

I've known about Donald Judd for a few years. I'm originally from Texas and learned about Judd…read morethrough this time in Texas - and have seen some of his art in Marfa. But I'd never visited this NYC site until this past Friday, when I took a tour of his house/studio at 101 Spring Street. So who was Judd? An American artist associated with minimalism (although our tour guide told us that Judd didn't like the term). He bought this property in 1968 and used it for his residence and studio even as he started spending more time in Marfa beginning in the 70s. The tour was fantastic. For about an hour and a half, our tour guide showed us several different levels of the property - the kitchen and dining room, the bedroom floor, another floor which served as a design and studio space, and more. The space is - shock shock - minimalist, but there's incredible art (his and others), furniture (including a dining room table he designed that I loooooooved), and other incredible touches. Our tour guide shared incredible stories about Judd and his family. He was informative, friendly, and funny, and the tour was a delight. If you're interesting in art (especially 20th century art and concepts) or architecture (the property has been renovated but in a way intended to preserve the property as it was during Judd's life and use of it) or are just looking for something to do in the City that is a little bit off the beaten path, definitely check out this tour!

First off, make sure you're in this to appreciate art, artists, and architecture. You're paying 35…read morebucks to climb several flights of stairs in a five story industrial structure in SoHo. And you don't get to take photos beyond the first floor. I didn't mind this, as I learned a lot about Donald Judd. And honestly, he wasn't even the most interesting part of this tour. Our guide, a delightful, knowledgeable woman (I wish I could remember her name--I'm going to start carrying a notebooks around with me)--she not only taught us about Judd, she taught us about art and art theory, and maybe even a little philosophy. This tour isn't for people looking for the flashy or ornamented. Judd's five story SoHo loft is pretty barren, but it's a sight to behold. His furniture isn't cushy or pleasant, but seeing the architecture, thinking about living in such a building--that's pretty extraordinary. Seeing the 12 or greater foot windows--that's something else. Hearing the guide talk about how Judd refused to define his art, how he pushed others to think about how art affected the function of their lives--that's what will stick with me. This is more of an exercise to teach us. Not to wow us or entertain us. And I think that's pretty amazing.

Small, wonderful gallery representing the LGBTQ community. I spent about 30 minutes here, but…read morereally enjoyed each piece. The staff were SUPER friendly, and it's free (though I donated the suggested donation of 10 dollars). I'm excited to read the (full length) magazine they provide. Pieces presented are colorful, stimulating, thought provoking, and controversial. Close to several SoHo galleries, most of which are free, so you can make a full day of this area.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum was a pleasant stop in Soho! The museum features two galleries with…read morerotating exhibits. The museum is free, but a $10 donation is encouraged. The museum kind of blends in with its surroundings - no sizable signs to make it stand out. But it's easy to find! The museum is on the smaller side but upon my visit in July 2025 featured two lovely exhibits that featured a variety of mediums - sculpture, video, painting, photography. There is a nice, clean gender-neutral bathroom. There appeared to be a few books for sale behind the check-in counter, but there is so gift shop. I would stop in again if I had the time, but I don't think this needs to be a necessity stop for someone just visiting NYC on a short trip.