New York City is home to numerous world-famous museums but if you need a break from classics like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the MOMA, do check out some of the City’s smaller, off the beaten path museums. In the previous installment of this series, we rounded up unique house museums in the Bronx. Today, we look at some gems in Manhattan.
1. Morris-Jumel Mansion
The Morris-Jumel Mansion was constructed in 1765 by Roger Morris, a British loyalist and was known as Mount Morris. During the Revolutionary War, both George Washington and British and Hessian forces occupied the house. On July 10, 1790, Washington returned to the house and dined there with members of his administration including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox. The mansion was purchased by Stephen and Eliza Jumel (Eliza would go on to marry Aaron Burr, who briefly lived at the house). In 1903, the City purchased the house and its grounds and a year later it opened to the public as a museum. We previously included the mansion in our roundup of Presidential Haunts.