Mount Vernon Hotel and Museum Garden
Difficult though it may be to believe, when the Mount Vernon Hotel was built in 1799 it served as a "country getaway" for well-to-do New Yorkers looking to escape the city, which at the time stretched only as far north as 14th Street. Though the main estate building was destroyed by fire in 1826, the original stone carriage house remains. Visitors can tour the period rooms and gardens for a peek at what life was like for upper-class antebellum urbanites.