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Best Things to Do on Staten Island: History, Gardens, and Coast

Ten source-backed Staten Island stops from the ferry and Snug Harbor to maritime museums, historic houses, Fort Wadsworth, Richmond Town, and coastal parkland.

Staten Island, New York City1 guide10 mapped stops
Activities/Staten Island

Best Things to Do on Staten Island: History, Gardens, and Coast

Guide: Staten Island: Harbor History, Gardens, and Coastal Parks

Staten Island opens from its free ferry into maritime history, an 83-acre cultural campus, museums, gardens, a zoo, military overlooks, historic villages, photography, and the southern shoreline. The borough's distances demand deliberate routing, but they also provide New York's clearest sense of escape.

  • Staten Island FerryThe Staten Island Ferry provides free harbor transit with skyline views and clear Statue of Liberty angles without pretending to be a guided cruise. Service runs around the clock, with frequency changing by time of day.
  • Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical GardenSnug Harbor occupies an 83-acre former sailors' retirement complex with Greek Revival buildings, botanical collections, museums, galleries, a farm, and performance spaces. The grounds connect several separate attractions, so a useful visit begins by choosing a museum or garden rather than treating the campus as one room.
  • Staten Island MuseumStaten Island Museum joins natural science, local history, and art in a single institution at Snug Harbor. Collections on the borough's ecology and past make it the campus stop most clearly rooted in place, while the world-art gallery broadens the visit.
  • New York Chinese Scholar's GardenThe New York Chinese Scholar's Garden uses traditional Suzhou construction, pavilions, rock compositions, courtyards, water, and framed views to create a sequence rather than one vista. It is a ticketed enclosure within Snug Harbor, not the same experience as walking the free campus grounds.
  • Staten Island ZooStaten Island Zoo is a compact neighborhood zoo with a renowned reptile collection, Amur leopards, farm animals, aquarium exhibits, and a strong education mission. Its manageable size works particularly well for younger children and does not demand the full-day commitment of the Bronx Zoo.
  • Historic Richmond TownHistoric Richmond Town preserves houses, shops, public buildings, and working trades across a village landscape that interprets more than three centuries of Staten Island life. Demonstrations and open interiors depend on the seasonal program, so the calendar matters more than merely walking the grounds.
National Lighthouse Museum officialFort Wadsworth officialAlice Austen House officialStaten Island Zoo official

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