Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum

I called to book the mansion for wedding photos and called 13 months in advance. I was told they weren’t booking for 2016 yet and to call in a month. I called again a month later and same answer. I called again and same answer except they penciled me in since I have been calling every month. I called again to confirm the date and was told it was booked by someone else. How could it be booked by someone else when I was penciled in. I was told that they don’t know what happened with no way of making it work. I was pretty much dismissed with this sucks for you. Some advice, record every conversation with them either on the phone or email.

A couple of weekends ago OHNY (Open House New York) offered a weekend event encouraging NYers and visitors to discover distinctive architectural design elements within the tri-​state area. This two day weekend event showcased historic structures; one of which included the Bartow-​Pell Mansion Museum.
I am ashamed to say that I never knew this place existed and while discussing my visit I found out from several other Bronxites who are native to the Bronx also had no idea… For Shame!!! Lesson here is that it’s never too late to learn a thing or two. I take this ignorance as a generational thing, as later in the day after my tour, I had the opportunity to meet this OG, who was in his mid-70’s, but didn’t look nor act a day over 50. He was that good fellas type dapper Dan, fuggehdaboutit, kinda guy, who just finished up his ‘vacation’ with the Feds… you get the picture. I’ll call him ‘Dan’, for the sake of anonymity. I mentioned to Dan how I took advantage of the opportunity to tour the mansion museum. He was laid back, yet excited to tell me about his teen years and how the surrounding area was more beautiful then, than it is now. Readers follow along with me and imagine as Dan is describing and thinking back to the 1950’s. He is virtually walking down memory lane telling me how he and his crew would drive their muscle cars over to Shore Road and drag race. Then later, during those evenings, with their girlfriends in tow, proceed over to ‘lovers lane’, which was the surrounding grounds of the mansion. Dan continued by saying he and his crew would drive their cars on the grounds, back then the grounds of the mansion were not gated as it is now, right up to the waters edge and watch the sunset and later the moonlit Long Island sound. Dan even mentioned how the coppers would come along and check on each car and tap on each of the steamed up windows, as the coppers knew this was a regular haunt for teenagers. They would shine their flashlights into the cars to check that everyone was okay, but yet leave them alone as everyone knew everyone. ‘Fuggehdaboutit’!! That was a cool insight into his youth from someone of that caliber and a cool sort of history lesson about 1950’s teenagers and the mansion itself.
On to the museum mansion tour.
Upon entering the grounds you are greeted by costumed docents walking around the gardens and throughout the museum, pretty cool to see. It makes you feel as though you are living within that era. Before I continue on, I would like to acknowledge, thank and compliment our fellow Unilocaler Amelia Z who was the costumed docent for our tour group. I had no idea she worked at the mansion museum and of all the tour guides she ended up with my group, what a coincidence. Amelia, a very sweet and knowledgeable young lady, was extremely informative of every question asked of her; I left there learning quite a bit that day. Kudos to Amelia!
As a few other reviews may have mentioned, the furniture in the mansion is not original to the museum. I believe you have to appreciate the effort of preserving this mansions 1836 structure. It is stated in 1842 the Bartow family consisting of the two parents and their seven children plus 13 or so staff members, take up residence for over four decades in the mansion newly built by Robert Bartow. Within those years, Mrs. Maria Bartow, née Lorillard, took some dutiful and extensive notes which helped in the recreation of the mansion. The International Garden Club, who are lease owners of the mansion to this day, made the recreation and preservation of the mansion possible with the help of curators from the Museum of New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum who each provided select furniture and decoration for most of the period rooms.
Outside of the mansion on this particular sunny, yet cool autumn day, there were 1800 type entertainment out on the back lawn. Crafts, childrens games and not too far from the Herb Garden, Cracked Walnuts, a husband and wife duo playing Banjo and Washboard music of the times… they were playing that old familiar song, Yankee Doodle, I still have that song playing in my head… yikes!!!
There is so much more to the history of Thomas Pell-​John Bartow, who are namesakes to some many areas within the northern Bronx. As well as Thomas Pell being an instrumental factor in the very important Bartow-​Pell Treaty signing and exchanging of acres upon acres of land for a mere pittance with the Lenape Indians… That in itself is a whole other part of history.

Lovely grounds, with great views of Pelham Bay and the surround marshlands. Some unknown New York City history here, dating back to the original settlements. Beautiful gardens. The house itself is great, but does not have the original furniture. The sun room is decadent.

The curb appeal is very offputting right now as they do construction and restoration. There’s a scaffolding pretty much covering the entire front of the building as you pull up to the parking lot.
I checked out the wigwam, the carriage house, and the garden out back. I did not go inside after reading that most of the furniture was not original to the house, that would take away from much of the experience for me. The garden is very lovely but another thing that was a bit offputting was there was some type of pilate excersise session going on with a large group of people near the entrance of the garden. I understand it’s a public area and people have a right to access it as they see fit however blocking the entrance is probably not the best place for this. They honestly were just taking over the whole area to the point where I felt like I was in their way and I really couldn’t enjoy the peacefulness of the garden with the trainer yelling the encouraging phrases «come on» «keep pushing» «one more time» blah blah blah. Hopefully this is not the sort of thing that goes on here regularly.
There was some type of art installation going on in the middle of the garden. Other’s were commenting that it’s not the way it usually looks. There was sand and pebble shaped pieces of colored glass surrounding the statue of the small child in the center. I was highly impressed by the garden. The tulips were beautiful.
All the parking spaces were also taken when we arrived and it was still relatively early. I can only assume many of the cars were owned by the excersise group out back.

beautiful grounds… makes me feel like i am someplace far, far away. Im going to come back with my hubby and have a picnic. very special place

You should come here if you happen to be in the area. I was in the Bronx vicinity and wanted to kill a few hours and this was perfect.
You can walk around the outside: there’s a little garden, a little family grave plot, a small hiking trail that goes by the marshes/​bay, and a wigwam. Cool, random stuff to look at.
The tour of the mansion itself is interesting. There are 4 – 5 rooms on each of the 2 floors. The guide was knowledgeable and it was fun looking at 18^th-​19^th century artifacts. Note – the furniture and things are not original to the house, but just period pieces.
Come here if you want a mildly interesting thing to do for 1.5 hours!

We happened on this museum by chance, but it was a great find! A $ 5 admission for a house tour. While the pieces are of the period, not original to the house, the guide was informative. It was fascinating to see what life was like in this area as it was one of the original estates — all the others have been torn down. The garden in the back of the place was closed off for repair, but it looks like a great place to come back once it’s done. The guide said they get a lot of revenue from film shoots — and I can see a number of private parties here as well as member events, which look like a lot of fun if you’re in the area. Looking forward to coming back and seeing the gardenin full glory.

We visited the Mansion this weekend. The building tour was interesting and the staff were well-​informed. The original family of the mansion took all the furniture, so the museum acquired period pieces that were similar. Unfortunately, the building is suffering from decay and could use a significant overhaul. The garden fountain was lovely but the «formal gardens» are more or less unkempt.
The four stars are actually not for the building itself, but for the surrounding area. We spent about 1 hour at the mansion and then took some local trails to Orchard Beach. The staff didn’t have any maps – or any interest in helping us find our way – so I downloaded a map on my phone. I have pasted the link to a PDF at the bottom of this post to save you the trouble. The trails meander through the marshes of Pelham Bay park and we saw wild geese, fish, and osprey. However, the yellow trail ends at certain points so you will be forced to bushwhack. My advice is to hop on the gray bike path when the yellow trail ends.
How did we get there? I include this for New Yorkers:
We took the 6 train to Pelham Bay park. We missed the W45 bus (which is located behind the subway station), which runs only once per hour on the weekend. So we took a cab to the Mansion for $ 12. From the mansion, we hiked the trails to Orchard Beach. From Orchard Beach, we walked along the bike path to City Island Circle and caught the B29 bus back to the Pelham 6 train station.
This is probably too much information, but we include it to save you the trouble of figuring this out!
Here is the map:

This place is most definitely not worth the trip from Manhattan. You can tour the whole place in 10 minutes, and even those 10 minutes aren’t great.

This treasure is one of the only remaining mansions and gardens in NYC! We NYers are lucky that it is open to the public and reasonably priced. Originally part of the 5,000 acre Pell estate from the 1600s and Indian land, it is very interesting and educational with it’s period decorated rooms and dressed docents. There is an Indian wampum hut and carriage house that children will love, especially on class trips. The historic red Bronx Trolley transports visitors for FREE from the last stop on the #6 train (Pelham Bay Park) to the mansion and City Island (check for schedule). First Fridays offers live music and refreshments and there are many events throughout the year. They just won a grant to restore their gardens. Bring a picnic lunch and wander around the grounds! A must see step back in time!

If you enjoy historic houses, you should go check this place out. The admission is reasonable, and you’ve got an option of a guided tour with a lecture, or just looking around yourself.
It was built in the mid-​1800s, but was used for various purposes by different organizations since then, so the décor isn’t original — it’s was redecorated with «period objects» in the 1940’s. There are some nice things, (I liked the memorial embroideries) but overall, you should go if you’re interested in the history, not to be impressed by a palatial «mansion.» (The Breakers this is not.)
There are formal gardens with a small fountain and some patio tables in the back, which are open to the public even if you opt not to enter the museum. Nice place to relax.
The museum’s website instructs visitors to take the not-​very-​frequent Westchester Bee-​line bus, but you can also take the Bx29 to Shore Rd. and walk from there — it’s about a 15-​minute, reasonably pleasant walk.

An excellent little museum up in a fine and often neglected corner of the Boogie Down Bronx, Pelham Park.
Star #1 is for the enormously knowledgeable and entertaining docent, Tom, whose tour included details about Anne Hutchinson getting bludgeoned to death nearby and how all the mansions in the area mysteriously burned down after the Parks Department bought the land.
Star #2 is for the lovely grounds. apparently they have great hiking trails in back.
Star #3: It’s empty! you wander around by yourself. hell, you could probably touch the furniture — no one’s looking. not that I endorse such hooligan behavior.
Star #4 — the awesome carriage house.
To turn this into a 5 Star experience, bring your bike on the 6 train and hit the museum on your ride to City Island or Orchard Beach.