I recently spent a weekend up in Inwood, the neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan island (though it’s not the furthest neighborhood of the borough; that honor goes to Marble Hill). Usually, I’m only in the area for the annual Medieval Festival or a visit to the Cloisters but for once, I travelled beyond Fort Tryon park and rode the A train to the end of the line.
The Dyckman Farmhouse is over 200-years-old and the last remaining farmhouse left in Manhattan. It currently sits a few blocks south of where the original house was located; the one that stands today is of a later date since the first house was destroyed during the American Revolution. Almost a century ago, it was converted to a museum that is now run by the New York City Parks Department.
Surrounded by modern construction, the farmhouse sits on a corner lot atop a slight hill. Enter at the corner and climb up the path to reach the front porch. On the day I went, the museum was hosting a fall festival event so there were a lot of children poking around indoors and out. Most of the rooms are open to the public so one can walk inside and examine the furniture and objects up close to get a sense of what life must have been like for the Dutch settlers.
There is a large garden behind the house as well as two smaller buildings. The larger of the two is a reconstructed military hut used by the British and Hessians when they had an encampment in Inwood during the Revolution. It was locked but there is a plaque just outside the hut with more information. With their fair going on, there were a few tables set up in the gardens for children’s arts and crafts as well as a demonstration of an old press for making apple cider. There were different events set up throughout the day but I didn’t stick out for most of them. The farmhouse is fairly small and one can see pretty much everything in under an hour.
