Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum

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The oldest house in all of New York City sits in the otherwise highly urbanized neighborhood of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The small museum is a window back in Brooklyn's history. The 1652 national landmark first housed a former indentured servant Dutch family. The mission of the museum is twofold�to tell the story of early Dutch and English farming life in the U.S. as well as that of the slave experience. A visit to the house can be humbling: Imagine the Wyckoff parents and their 11 children crowded into a one-room house the size of a Manhattan studio. In this room, the children were home-schooled, cider was pressed, and the family huddled on straw-and-seaweed-stuffed beds. Additional English-style rooms were later added and the house has been renovated to its 1820s appearance. Original slave bills of sale on display from the early 1800s are a striking reminder that the North was also greatly culpable in the slave trade. These days, the house offers free educational programs, tours, and public programming to the local community. — Chris Fichera

Access to the house itself is by guided tour only. Groups of six or more must make an appointment for a group visit.