South Street Seaport Museum, New York

A review of the South Street Seaport Museum, a ‘campus’ of sites in Lower Manhattan. Fascinating history, but the experience is somewhat hampered by ongoing post-Covid recovery.

New York’s Hidden Historic Seafront: The South Street Seaport Museum

I’ve been fortunate to go to New York a few times now. Generally tourism isn’t my primary purpose when I’m there, but I make the most of my downtime and see what I can. I’d been to Wall Street and the Financial District. I’d caught the Staten Island ferry. But until I met a friend for a drink recently at Pier 17, I had no idea the South Street Seaport existed, despite it being just a stone’s throw from all these places!

What is lovely about the South Street Seaport is that its location is original. A lot of the edge of Manhattan these days is actually reclaimed land. But this is waterfront where waterfront has always been (more or less). Today it boasts some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan. Not quite as old as 1625, when the Dutch West India Company established the first pier here. But a lot of nice early 19th-Century mercantile buildings, very low-rise compared to the skyscrapers nearby.

The South Street Seaport Museum was founded in 1967, as a means to preserve this historic fabric via an educational mission. The focus was more on reenactments of 19th-Century mercantile activities at that point. Today the mercantile spaces are turned back over to shops. And instead the South Street Seaport Museum is a ‘campus’ style museum. You can visit the main museum site in Schermerhorn Row, a number of historic ships, and a stationer’s which is still in business. A few days after my cocktail meet-up at Pier 17 (gorgeous views – highly recommended), I came back to check it out.

12 Fulton Street

If you’re visiting the South Street Seaport Museum, you may find it a bit hard to figure out what’s actually on view where. I think this is partly because they are being rather subtle about the fact that a lot of the main museum site is not open. I’m guessing this is because of some sort of fallout from Covid – either staffing, funding, both, or something else. But instead there is an ‘introduction gallery’ (essentially the lobby) at 12 Fulton Street, part of Schermerhorn Row.

Schermerhorn Row is a terrace of counting houses, built in 1811-12 by Peter Schermerhorn. They have been protected New York landmarks since 1968, and were purchased by the State of New York in 2004. There was only a tantalising glimpse of an out of bounds escalator when I visited, but it seems like a few of the upstairs rooms have been joined to create a large museum exhibition space.

Confined to just the lobby, this is currently not a great museum experience. But it is an information-rich introduction to the city’s early history. When we visited, there were displays on the ‘Rise of New York’, and early ocean liners. An interesting fact about the South Street Seaport is that it was here that someone first had the idea of running passenger boats on a schedule, rather than waiting until they were full. The birth of a major industry!

I do advise you to check out the museum at 12 Fulton Street, particularly as it’s free. But treat it as a place to set the scene, and to check in for a visit to the Wavertree, coming up next.

1886 Tall Ship ‘Wavertree’

The South Street Seaport Museum has various preserved and restored historic ships. But foremost among them is the Wavertree, the museum’s flagship. The Wavertree can be visited for free just like the museum, you just need to check in at Fulton Street before boarding.

The Wavertree tells the story of a 19th Century cargo vessel. She made voyages to South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, before a dismasting in 1910 off Cape Horn. The ship is in working condition once more, so strikes a balance between historic restoration in some areas, and being practical and ship shape in others. You can visit the main deck and quarter deck, and peep into the cargo hold.

As much as I was slightly disappointed by visiting the main South Street Seaport Museum, being able to see a great historic ship like this for free pretty much made up for it. The volunteers aboard were helpful and informative, and the archival materials sufficient to get a sense of the ship in action. Even if you skip the museum, this is a fun thing to do if you’re in downtown Manhattan. Take my word for it as I’ve been to see a few historic ships at this stage.

And The Rest Of The South Street Seaport Museum

You really could make a day of the South Street Seaport Museum. As well as the main museum and the Wavertree, there’s a lot more to see. There are more historic boats, for starters. You can visit the 1908 Lightship Ambrose for free if you time it right to join a tour (we didn’t). Or there are others like the tugboat Decker and schooner Pioneer which you can ride for a fee.

And there is Bowne & Co., Stationers. This is around the corner from Fulton Street, and is ‘New York’s oldest business operating under the same name’. A rather specific claim to fame. It’s an interesting shop, which is set up for demonstrations and activities but wasn’t doing any when we were there. We just bought some nice souvenirs instead.

So all in all, this is a nice day out. We enjoyed the Wavertree, sort of enjoyed the museum (lobby), and wandered around having a look at the rest in the sunshine with an icecream. It’s perfect to tack onto a day where you will be in downtown Manhattan anyway. We headed off to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal afterwards, full of thoughts of early New York and the importance of its harbour and maritime connections in its development.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5