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Wednesday 11am - 4pm Thursday 11am - 4pm Friday 11am - 4pm Saturday 11am - 4pm Sunday 11am - 4pm

Van Cortlandt House Museum

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Van Cortlandt House Museum - where history lives in The Bronx!

Since 1896, Van Cortlandt House Museum has been under the stewardship of The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York through a license agreement with the City of New York. The Society is responsible for preserving and restoring the interiors, providing and caring for the collections, offering educational opportunities to school children throughout New York City, and assuring that the doors to Van Cortlandt House are open to visitors 5 days a week all year round.

10/31/2026

Ephemeral Light: Artist and Book Talk
Saturday, November 14 | 1:00PM

Join us as we welcome artist Ira Merritt to discuss his new photography book, Ephemeral Light: Moving through Time, Loss and Renewal in Van Cortlandt Park.

A lifelong Bronx resident, Ira Merritt taught photography for over three decades, including 26 years at Manhattan’s High School of Art & Design. His work has earned numerous awards and grants from the Bronx Council on the Arts. His book, Ephemeral Light, brings together written material and photographs of Van Cortlandt Park and is dedicated to the memory of his son, Ben, who passed away in 2023.

This project is made possible with public funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and with funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, both administered by the Bronx Council on the Arts.

VCHM’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

10/30/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended this year's Wags to Witches! It was a pleasure to welcome so many visitors, human and canine, to the Museum grounds for an afternoon of Halloween fun.

Thanks also to LINC and the Urban Park Rangers for joining us and helping to make the festivities such a success.

And finally, a very special shout-out to all the dogs, who stole the show with their wonderfully creative and occasionally terrifying costumes! From the spooky to the adorable, our four-legged visitors and their human companions certainly got into the Halloween spirit.

We hope to see you all again next year!

Photo credit: Adam Ramli Hudson Valley Digital Marketing

10/24/2026

Saturday, October 24th, 2026

Please note: VCHM will not be offering guided tours today. The Museum will remain open for regular public hours.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

10/23/2026

Attention visitors!

Please note that Van Cortlandt House Museum will be closed to indoor tours on Sunday, October 25th, for our annual Wags to Witches Halloween celebration. All scheduled activities will take place outdoors on the museum ground.

We invite you to join us for this free, family-friendly event!

Image credit: NYPL.

10/19/2026

As New York City settles into autumn and leaves begin to fall, we invite you to visit VCHM and explore Van Cortlandt Park in Pictures, an exhibition by Bronx photographer Billy Cleary.

Billy's photos celebrate the splendor of Van Cortlandt Park, capturing its landscapes and grand vistas, as well as the details hidden in its many twists and turns. Together, these images offer a personal portrait of one of the city's most beloved green spaces.

Stop by the Museum to enjoy the exhibition, and take some time to explore the park that inspired it! Van Cortlandt Park in Pictures will remain on view through November 8, 2026.

VCHM’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

10/18/2026

Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, Van Cortlandt House Museum, and the Urban Park Rangers invite you to a FREE afternoon of family and doggy fun. Get ready for creepy crafts, face painting, spine-chilling stories with LINC and more!

The event will be held on the lawn of the Van Cortlandt House Museum.

And don't forget: join us at 3pm for our Fourth Annual Canine Costume Contest! Register your pup day-of between 2pm and 2:45pm, or pre-register via Eventbrite.

Thank you to Ethical Culture Fieldston School for their sponsorship of this event.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council.

Funded in part by a grant from the New York City Tourism Foundation.

10/17/2026

A few more moments from this year's Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums conference, where VCHM was honored with a Making an Impact Award in recognition of Overlapping Empires, Samantha Box's site-wide contemporary art installation. Museum Director Margaret Holmes was in attendance to receive the award.

We are grateful for this recognition, and for the opportunity to celebrate the work of our colleagues across the cultural heritage community. We would also like to extend a sincere thank you to Samantha Box, for sharing her work with VCHM, and to everyone who participated in Overlapping Empires.

Photos © 2026 Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio.com

10/17/2026

Van Cortlandt House Museum will be closed this Sunday, October 18th. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Museum will resume regular public hours on Wednesday, October 21st.

10/16/2026

Yesterday evening, VCHM Museum Director Margaret Holmes and Collections Specialist John Carini led a special tour of Unfolded Ornaments: Fans from the Collection of the Van Cortlandt House for members of the Victorian Society in New York.

This exhibition showcases a remarkable group of historic hand fans recently discovered in the Museum's collection. Now on display at the headquarters of the NSCDNY, these objects offer a fascinating glimpse into the decorative arts and material culture of the past.

Many thanks to the Victorian Society in New York, the NSCDNY, and to everyone who participated in yesterday's tour!

10/09/2026

in 1776, the Revolution came to Kingsbridge.

From the diary of Frederick Mackenzie, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers: “At half past 7 in the morning The Phoenix, Roebuck, and Tartar, weighed anchor, and having the advantage of the flood tide, and a brisk Southerly wind, stood up the North River … As soon as the Rebels perceived them under way, they beat to arms and manned all their batteries on each side of the River. About 8 o'clock they began to fire very briskly at the Ships from both sides, but particularly from the batteries near Kingsbridge and immediately opposite…”

Pictured here are the three British warships described by Mackenzie. As his diary reports, on October 9th, 1776, these ships travelled north up the Hudson, running the gauntlet of American batteries lining both shores. The maneuver was part of the British campaign to gain control of the river and disrupt the Continental Army’s communications and supply chains. For local communities, the war was no longer something happening elsewhere. British warships were now exchanging fire with American cannon just a few miles from the Van Cortlandt estate.

HMS Phoenix played another, rather unusual role in the British war effort; in January 1776, George and John Folliott are alleged to have begun manufacturing counterfeit Continental Currency on board the ship. The forged banknotes were intended to circulate throughout the rebellious colonies and thereby increase inflation — one component of a broader British strategy of economic warfare. Benjamin Franklin would later write: "The artists they employed performed so well, that immense quantities of these counterfeits, which issued from the British government in New York, were circulated among the inhabitants of all the States, before the fraud was detected."

The events of October 9th offer a reminder that the American Revolution was fought on many fronts, with cannon and currency alike serving as weapons of war.

Image: Forcing a passage of the Hudson River, 9 October 1776, Thomas Mitchell after Dominic Serres, unknown date (Royal Museums Greenwich).

Address

6036 Broadway
The Bronx, NY
10471

Opening Hours

Wednesday	11am - 4pm
Thursday	11am - 4pm
Friday	11am - 4pm
Saturday	11am - 4pm
Sunday	11am - 4pm

Telephone

+17185433344

Website

http://www.vchm.org/

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