Very interesting tour. This house served many purposes in the community over the years! There are…read moresome interesting artifacts from the Schuyler Family.

Mansion where Alexander Hamilton Married Elizabeth Schuyler [Albany NY]…read more The Schuyler Mansion was less than a mile away from the USS Slater so if you can do both tours it's very much worth it to visit these two historic sites. Admission fee for the Schuyler Mansion is only $5. After we paid for the fees in the Visitors Center we caught up with the group that had just begun its tour. The mansion was the home of General Philip Schuyler, in command of the Northern Department Army during the American Revolution. It was explained to us that during the Revolutionary War his home was used for military meetings, political meetings (he was also a U.S. Senator), elegant parties, and family life. General Schuyler's property extended to a huge chunk of land in Albany but is now only reduced to just the brick mansion that is now a museum. Philip and Catherine Schuyler raised their family (eight children) in this house including hosting the wedding of their daughter Elizabeth to Alexander Hamilton in 1780. We viewed the Yellow Parlor Room, Library, Best Parlor Room, and the Dining Room. Our tour guide was very informative. Most of the tour was held on the first floor, where the family held public and private gatherings. Interesting tour too if you're a fan of the musical, Hamilton. They are only open Fri-Sun each week. We were lucky to visit the mansion during its open season and on the day of the week that we were in Albany. The Schuyler House has just opened for 2023 last month on Fri, May 26th and will be operating through Sun, Oct 15, 2023. Review #3015

Review for public areas, not the society itself. (The other review here seems to have been intended…read morefor the Schuyler Mansion, so I'll explicate a bit.) As historical societies / museums go, this is tiny but well-maintained. (I've seen lots of small museums over the years -- it's an affliction -- that didn't even bother to dust the collections, much less try to keep them fresh). The building itself is magnificent, a 19th century residence, but unfortunately there aren't full tours of the spaces, likely due to access and ADA requirements. So you are restricted to the front-and-back downstairs, which is also an occasional reception space (we've been to one, and it's nice for that, if you're looking for a small 50-150 person space). So there's basically two parts: the Uncle Sam room, and everything else. The Uncle Sam room is packed full of stuff about you-know-who, mostly souvenirs from over the ages, but it's very nicely arranged and well-curated. Definitely an interesting if brief stop in and of itself if you're a first-timer to Troy or just generally interested about that side of Troy/county history. Part 2 of the museum is whatever they have for a rotating exhibit. In limited space, both of the exhibits we've seen here have been quite well done and interesting, and while not consuming more than 20 minutes or so, is again worth a quick stop in a tour of lovely downtown Troy. Check their website, of course, to find out what the current exhibit is.

I had visited the Schuyler Mansipn many years ago but decided to stop by recently on a whim. I was…read moreable to join a tour that had just started(they are given on the hour). The house has been recently redone in honor of the hundredth anniversary of its being a museum though it was built in the mid-eighteenth century. It looks fabulous with new historically accurate wallpaper and furnishing fabrics and fully furnished rooms. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and helpful- she is.a PhD student in American History and Women's Studies. The gardens are also lovely and the gift shop and visitor center are excellent. It is definitely worth a detour if you are interested in American History and especially Alexander Hamilton!

This place is incredible and extremely child friendly! The volunteers who run the operation are…read morebeyond spectacular and are extremely helpful. I have two under three who were extremely excited for the entirety of this museum. It was a perfect day. We ended up buying a membership and very much look forward to our returns in the future! Be sure to check out their virtual airplane ride it's actually really fun and was one of the highlights for my little guys!

Somewhere hidden inside the Empire State Aerosciences Museum is a great museum trying to get out of…read morethe shell of a tired old one. The collection here isn't the issue per se. The outdoor air park has an enormous number of post-War jet planes and one helicopter, and while they're peeling in the sun and the displays need quite a bit of freshening up, it's an impressive collection of real aircraft, some of which you can peer into the cockpit. They have mostly American, one British, and several Soviet-era aircraft, almost all war planes and mostly fighters. The interior exhibits look like a hodge podge of things amateur enthusiasts have collected over the years, made, and shoved together into a vaguely coherent timeline from the dawn of flight to the early rocket age. It's not good. There are many individually interesting things but they're just too random, and many are quite old, dated, and some broken. Some of it looks like your Grandpa's model plane project after it's been sitting in the attic for 25 years. There is NO sense of curation here, as the displays, interpretation, and artifacts are random; again, it shows the marks of many volunteers and enthusiastic amateurs but without the guidance of professional curation. The collection is divided up into two buildings, one of which is the old GE hangar (a lovely building, somewhat ruined by having had a building within a building constructed on one side) with dusty interior exhibits in the minibuilding and some very random real plane exhibits alongside a bunch of obvious works-in-progress restorations that looks very much like an aviation junk yard. The second building leads out to the airpark, which is fenced in and can only be reached through the second building. What really would make a great museum is if they cut out about 90% of the artifacts, and focused on the local stories -- not even New York aviation as a whole, but starting with the story of the original use of the place, as the GE Aviation Testing Center in 1946, and working their way up to much, much more on the story of the 109th Airlift Wing at the adjacent Stratton Air National Guard base. If the collection focused on that -- even if it meant jettisoning the air park -- there could be a really cool and much more coherent story with both local interest and international importance. There are so many odd and undercurated GE-related historical museums and exhibits around here -- from the Edison in downtown, to MiSci, to the Schenectady County Historical Museum, to this place -- that are scattered about and thus tell an incoherent story about GE's presence in town -- one kind of wishes in the abstract GE would sponsor some kind of master museum just about the history of the place (like the Heinz Center in Pittsburgh, PA) and cleaved off the science museum part. An example of what I consider to be the kind of problem a place like this continues to have: they are currently trying to get money together to get a half-sized model of the SST. What? Whatever for? It's not like it's a real SST, and a half-sized model is just another maintenance headache that I doubt very much will be either a big attraction or key to understanding the story of aviation in New York. Yeah, the SST took off from a New York airport. I'm sure that's the hook. But it's not really the kind of direction this place needs to head. For now, this is a little sad and depressing but for the ardent history buff there's still things to dig out of it, and if you have an aviation-enthused youngster (but not one not already interested, I don't think) they will enjoy it. The front desk staff are pleasant and the small shop, while having not a whole lot of unique local-interest items, is reasonably priced for souvenirs. (I have suggested to them they at least add some models of the C-130s used by the 109th.) No food or drink (an outside cafe with a viewing area to watch the planes take off, with interpretive plaques, would be a big money maker) and extremely rudimentary bathroom facilities (in the second buliding).

Came for the glow festival. It was a nice time. Parking was handled well. The event itself was…read morewonderful. Concessions however needed some work. It was expensive and the line was in disarray with people jumping in the middle of the line and the lady at the cash register holding her hand out instead of telling you how much it actually cost. Outside of that it was a wonderful well organized event on beautiful grounds.

This is an amazing, unusual venue that more people should know about! An historic farm built in the…read more1700s, with a museum for artifacts, an original home, and a barn used for concerts and other events in warmer weather. I first attended the concert series a few years ago before the pandemic, then occasionally in the last couple years. Concerts are free but donations are encouraged. Some refreshments are sold, but bring a picnic and eat before or during the concert. Last night we went on a "moonlit hike." I heard this was the first one held. It was a 1/4 mile walk through the woods to the river. I'm very glad we went, but would advise anyone going: wear appropriate footwear for winter! Crampons, snow shoes, walking poles and the like would be good advice. The trails were fairly icy because that's the weather we've had this year. Get into the group closest to the leader so you can hear the speaker, or maybe they will have a tour guide near the end so that group can hear, as well. There is a lot of fascinating history here! The original home was heated snd the Information shared inside was amazing: observing the living conditions of these early settlers... did you know the second leading cause of death for women(after childbirth was long skirts catching on FIRE?! Definitely a worthwhile tour. Afterwards, go have delicious pub food down at the River Road House, where there is more history to be learned.

I haven't been to Five Rivers in more than 20 years and a lot has changed since then…read more For one, it's much larger than I remember. They are still using the old building for internal needs but have built an entirely new environmental center and it is beautiful. The center is spacious and includes several educational areas covering everything from culture within the region, native plant life, Bee habitat, Bird of prey and other wildlife, building Greening process, and photovolactic energy production. They also have a large learning center where a group of students could watch a video or partake in training during a field trip. There are multiple walking trails available where guests can get some exercise, enjoy wildlife, and nature. We could have easily spent half a day here but only had a few hours to explore one of the main trails. There's a lot of parking on site and staff are super friendly It didn't cost us anything to come out here and enjoy everything they have to offer. If you were in the area and are looking for something outdoorsy to do, I highly recommend paying them a visit.

Wow came here today to take a little hike October 2025…read more They had a very nice educational center. We enjoyed looking inside and checking out the owl and the turtle that has been alive for 50 years! Super friendly staff and nice bathrooms. We took a nice walk on the North loop trail. 2 ponds, lots of birds Great place to bring the kids They have some educational programs.

This is a yearly must come event. I been coming here for the past 8 years. It never fails how much…read morevariety of tulips they have. Nice peaceful event, it's helps to come the week before and get to see the early bloomers. Then come again later on for the late bloomers. Plenty of parking in the area and it's a nice stroll through the park.

I came on the day after the last day. It was still beautiful. Bring your cameras. I'm not sure if…read moreparking during the festival was a mess but there were plenty of roped off areas and signs saying no parking close to the flowers. There was also a delightful ticket guy roaming the area. I got great pictures. The vibe was nice. Young and old were enjoying the beautiful weather and sights.

A lovely little pop-up museum honoring the textile work of the Shakers…read more A must see before it closes in September.

You might miss Fort Crailo if you don't know what you're looking for. It sits in the middle of a…read moreresidential neighborhood overlooking the Hudson. It doesn't really look like a fort, more like a very old brick house but if you look carefully at the front you can see the gun ports. The house was built in 1707 with multiple additions over the years, changing a lot of the character of the structure but a walk through the basement lets you see the old beans and stone foundation. It has a variety of exhibits on the Dutch Colonial history of the house and the surrounding area. There's a story that a British physician, staying in the house in 1755 penned Yankee Doodle Dandy to make fun of the Colonial troops in the French and Indian war but it's never been proven.

This is an incredible museum focused on Dutch Colonial life. Just feet from the banks of the…read moreHudson, this amazing collection of original artifacts, art work, and creative displays breathe life into this important time and people. The drafters of our constitution modeled our republic in large part on the Dutch Republic. If you didn't know that, all the more reason to visit!