On Friday, July 4, 2025, Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site invites the public to attend an old-fashioned Independence Day celebration on the mansion grounds, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
There will be a variety of 18th century inspired activities to sample throughout the afternoon, including demonstrations of candle-dipping and tin-smithing. In addition, visitors can play Historic Cherry Hill's "Hudson River Trading Game," or visit the “Hands-On History” tent where children and their families may enjoy signing the Declaration of Independence with quill pens, crafts, and playing with colonial games and toys.
Special appearances include Rural Felicity, who will regale the crowd with the Fife & Drum, and “Dr. Stringer,” Philip Schuyler’s physician, who will discuss the fascinating subject of 18th-century medicine with his traveling “Medical and Miscellaneous Museum.”
Schuyler Mansion will be available for Open House (self-guided) tours from noon to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. This year’s exhibits include “Seizing Liberty: Stories of Freedom Seekers” and “Fifth of July,” celebrating emancipation from slavery in New York State. New this year, “Treachery, Treason, & Tariffs: 1775, the Revolution Begins” is the first in a series of exhibits commemorating 250 years since the American Revolution. Also on display will be a recreated sled, such as the ones used by Henry Knox in his Noble Train of Artillery to transport cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in 1775 and 1776. This sled was built by students from the WSWHE BOCES Career & Technical Education program, and will eventually become a part of the permanent collection of the New York State Museum.
Free Stewarts Shops ice cream and a reading of the Declaration of Independence will round out the holiday. Please note that there will be street parking only, with limited parking for visitors with mobility concerns as space allows.
Schuyler Mansion is located at 32 Catherine Street in Albany’s historic South End. For information about this or other site events, please call (518) 434-0834, visit https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schuylermansion/details.aspx, or find us on Facebook and Instagram.
