Best Historic Sites in New York

Overlooking the western rim of Central Park, this neoclassical structure guards some of the oldest artifacts associated with the city of New York. It was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum and has been at its present location since 1908. The Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture on the fourth floor is being redesigned to showcase its preeminent collection of Tiffany lamps, displayed in a sparkling glass gallery. The new Center for the Study of Women's History will be a permanent space devoted to women's history exhibitions and scholarship--the first of its kind in a U.S. museum. During winter holiday season, N-YHS transforms into a magical wonderland with "Holiday Express," a dynamic installation from its renowned Jerni Collection of model trains, scenic elements, and toys from a bygone era.

The historic gateway to America, Manhattan's Lower East Side is home to the place-based Lower East Side Tenement Museum. In the 19th century, millions of European immigrants poured into New York Harbor. A tour of the Tenement at 97 Orchard Street illustrates the way of life for many of the European arrivals. Recently, the Museum has adopted yet another tenement at 103 Orchard St. that tells the stories of Chinese, Puerto Rican and Jewish immigrants in the mid-20th century. All tours begin and end at 108 Orchard Street. Tours are offered daily with the first tour beginning at 10:15 and the last tour beginning at 5 pm. Special tours: Neighborhood Walking Tour, Shop Life, Sweatshop Workers and Tastings at the Tenement last 90 minutes; all others are 60 minutes.

Museum of Chinese in America or MOCA started off in 1980 as the New York Chinatown History Project by historian John Kuo Wei Tchen and community resident/activist Charles Lai. Housed in what Architectural Digest says is among Maya Lin's most memorable designs within the triangle that links SoHo, Little Italy, and Chinatown. Known as the preeminent museum of Chinese American culture and history in the U.S., the collections comprise more than 60,000 letters, documents, business records along with oral histories, clothing, textiles and precious photos. The Core exhibit is designed around the heart of the museum, a light-filled courtyard like the rooms of a traditional Chinese house. Today, MOCA offers the Chinatown Food Tour and From Coffeehouses to Banquet Halls Walking Tours.

Spanning the East River from City Hall to DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Bridge has welcomedNew Yorkers since 1883. Until 1903, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. A must-see and must-do for any visitor is to take the 30-plus minute, 3,455-foot expedition and walk it. The wide pedestrian walkway is unparalleled and the views of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the East River are incredible, making it easy to understand why poets and painters have been fascinated by it. Walt Whitman described the view as the "most effective medicine my soul has yet partaken." Look for the plaque written to Emily Warren Roebling however who ws the critical link between her ailing husband who supervised the building of the bridge and the men who actually constructed it.

The Museum is housed inside the Eldridge Street Synagogue, the first great house of worship built in America by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. With its soaring 50-foot ceiling, decorative painted finishes, and luminous stained glass, the synagogue feels like a short ride to heaven and is an inspiring contrast to the crowded tenements, factories and shops of the Lower East Side. Since it reopened in 2007 following a $20 million restoration, 250,000 people have visited on tours or participated in cultural events that take place nearly every night. At the heart of the new visitor center opened in June 2014 is a permanent exhibit of Yiddish signs, Jewish ritual objects, historic photos and most poignant of all, excerpts from the Museum's collection of oral histories. Do check on the Festival calendar such as the Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival celebrating the nabe's diversity.

Even if going to a library isn't on your list of "must-see" attractions back home, be sure to make an exception for the awe-inspiring Beaux-Art landmark known as the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd St. NYPL's mascots, the lions "Patience" and "Fortitude," were so named because Mayor Fiorello La Guardia felt that these qualities would be much needed during the Great Depression; one of them served as a hiding place for the cowardly lion in The Wiz. This branch of the NYPL holds more than 52 million items from books, periodicals, drafts of Presidential speeches, maps, videos, musical scores, manuscripts and archives. A café was added to the entryway on the first floor. Do take the majestic stairways to duck inside the Rose Main Reading Room on the second floor and peruse the rotating exhibits in the hallways.

As the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1971, the Empire State Building is the ancestor of all super tall skyscrapers and makes a lasting impression in the minds of all who have stood beneath, or atop, this international icon or inside the 86th or 102nd Floor Observatories. The building opened in 1931 at a cost of $41 million after about a year of construction, making it the fastest development of any major skyscraper (4.5 stories per week). At 1,454 feet and currently the 28th tallest building in the world, this landmark soars more than a quarter mile into the Manhattan sky. Be treated to amazing 80-mile visibility on clear days from the observation decks. Mornings are less crowded, yet the views at night are magical. View the Empire from another building, and see the top 30 stories wildly illuminated by varying color combinations on holidays a New York City-style Empire celebration.

The three-gallery permanent exhibition presents all you ever wanted to know about the dramatic 400-year history of NYC from a striving Dutch village to today's "Capital of the World." The exhibition features more than 400 objects from New York City icons like Alexander Hamilton, Walt Whitman, "Boss" Tweed, Emma Goldman, JP Morgan, Fiorello La Guardia, Jane Jacobs, Jay-Z, and dozens more. Occupying the entire first floor in three interactive galleries of the Museum's landmark building on New York's Museum Mile, "New York at Its Core" is shaped by four themes – money, density, diversity, and creativity – that have combined to make NYC a center of innovation in the arts, business, science, politics, and urban development. Established in 1923 the MCNY was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the present residence of the Mayor of New York, the city was offered its present location in a Georgian Colonial-Revival building.

The Statue of Liberty is among New York City's–and America's–most familiar landmarks: a massive copper-and-steel cast of a green lady raising a torch, clutching a tablet and donning a seven-point crown. The monument welcomed generations of immigrants to the United States as they passed through Ellis Island, the nation's main entry station between 1892 and 1924 (it eventually closed in 1954). Its American Family Immigration History Center contains millions of passenger arrival records and hundreds of ship pictures from the time; anyone whose family arrived in America this way, or who has just a passing interest in the nation's immigrant history, will find the Ellis Island Museum is an excellent bonus to a statue trip–or a reason to visit in its own right.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York is located inside the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House on the south side of Bowling Green, in lower Manhattan, adjacent to the northeast corner of Battery Park, just about where this City was born. Rich in architectural and historic significance, the Custom House is a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Permanent and temporary exhibits installed in this magnificent building often include rare collections of photography, jewelry, basketry, sculpture, textile work, accompanied by dance and music performances, symposia, hands-on activities, storytelling times and special events such as Day of the Dead or their observance of American Indian Heritage Month.