6 Best Sights in Staten Island, New York City

One of the largest ongoing adaptive reuse projects in America, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden’s 83-acre campus—with 4 museums, 26 buildings, 9 gardens, 10 acres of wetlands, and a 2-acre farm—is an ideal place to enjoy nature, history, and the arts. Its on-site attractions are managed (and, if applicable, ticketed) independently of each other. Events, performances, and cultural celebrations occur regularly throughout campus.

The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art is Staten Island's largest and oldest contemporary art gallery, exhibiting vibrant, dynamic displays of local and international artwork, all housed in Snug Harbor’s oldest landmarked Greek Revival building. Next door, the Noble Maritime Collection maintains historic collections specific to Staten Island's maritime past. Enjoy the Staten Island Children's Museum with kids, or visit the Staten Island Museum, with exhibits on art, history, and science—including a partial life-size replica of a mastodon. Among the unique botanical gardens is the Ming Dynasty--inspired New York Chinese Scholar's Garden, one of the first classical outdoor scholar’s garden in North America, fabricated in Suzhou and constructed on-site.

Turned over to the National Park Service in 1994, this 226-acre historical military site on the Narrows of New York Harbor was on defense from the Revolutionary War to World War II. Today, it's the starting point of the New York Marathon each November, and makes for a relaxed summertime hangout, with views of Battery Weed and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Tours and events with living history actors are ongoing but irregular, so make sure to check their website's calendar beforehand.

With a walking and biking path extending from Fort Wadsworth 2.5 miles southwest to Miller Field, this Atlantic Ocean–facing city park is one of New York City’s four spacious beachfront areas. Not just for sunbathing or a dip in the ocean on a hot summer day, it also has a skate park, a seasonal snack stand, a fishing pier, and numerous sports fields. About three quarters of the way down—easily accessible by seasonal bike rental—the Turtle Fountain at Midland Beach is a fun stop for photos.

New York City's only living-history museum is like a small-scale version of Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg. This 100-acre village, constructed from the 1670s to the early 19th century, was the site of Staten Island's original county seat. Thirteen of the site's 30 historic buildings (28 landmarked) are open to the public. During Open Village season (late May–early October), you can wander town to encounter historical interpreters in period dress demonstrating early American crafts and trades such as tinsmithing, broom making, and basket making, or talking politics in the village tavern. During the cold months when most reenactors are on hiatus, guided tours are still available for a few buildings, along with the Historical Museum, built in 1848, housing thousands of Staten Island artifacts within the nine galleries.

Atop Lighthouse Hill sits this replica of a tranquil Tibetan monastery so impressive, it's listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Founded by an American collector of Tibetan art, it's partly a museum comprising a temple and a garden, holding her formidable collection of Tibetan and Himalayan sculpture, paintings, and artifacts. It's also an active community center for visitors to mediate, practice yoga or Tai Chi, or attend other events posted on their website's calendar. Views from their terrace truly transport you to another place, far from an urban center.

Just a short five-minute stroll from the ferry terminal, this museum sheds "light" on lighthouse history throughout America. It's housed not in a lighthouse, but in the foundry that was once part of an 18-building complex for the U.S. Lighthouse Service's General Depot, the center of all lighthouse operations across the country from 1864 to 1939. Self-guided tours through the small museum reveal miniature scale models of many recognizable American lighthouses, an exhibit on the technology of Fresnel lenses, plus displays about famous lighthouse keepers, who collectively played an important role in American maritime history.