Chronicles: Dyckman Farmhouse

 
There are few visual reminders of upper Manhattan’s farming past but in the neighborhood of Inwood stands a lone homestead keeping history alive. The old Dyckman house is the oldest farm still standing on Manhattan Island. Built in 1784 by William Dyckman, the home once stood on over 250 acres of land which originally belonged to William’s grandfather, Jan. Jan built a home on the land in the 1660s, which eventually William inherited but during the Revolutionary War, William fled to upstate New York and upon his return to Manhattan, found his grandfather’s home destroyed. He immediately decided to rebuild and the home he built today, passed down through his family, is the Dyckman Farmhouse.

In the 1870s, the family had sold the home and it became a rental property but in a stroke of genius, and with great reverence for the past, William’s great-great granddaughters bought the property back, renovated the home to its original glory and made the property into a museum. They also built on the land a reproduction smokehouse and reconstructed “Hessian Hut.”
 
Today, the house is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and is a mere $1 for adults to visit and free for children.
 
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum
4881 Broadway at 204th Street, New York, NY 10034 – (212) 304-9422

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