At the southern tip of Staten Island, in a 1680 stone farmhouse called Conference House, a delegation from the Continental Congress once sat down with a British admiral to try to stop the war. A free America 250 exhibit in the park’s visitor center tells that story through the end of the year.
- What: Voices of 1776: The People and Events Surrounding the Historic Staten Island Peace Conference of the American Revolution — an America 250 exhibit by the Conference House Association and NYC Parks.
- The history it covers: on Sept. 11, 1776, at Billop Manor, British Vice-Admiral Lord Richard Howe met John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge — days after the British took Long Island, less than three months after independence was declared. The talks failed because Britain would not recognize American independence, and the campaign to take New York resumed.
- Where: Lenape Gallery, Conference House Park Visitor Center, 298 Satterlee Street, Staten Island. It is inside the parking lot on Hylan Boulevard off Satterlee Street, and it is listed as accessible.
- When: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.–3 p.m., through Dec. 31, 2026.
- Cost: free, no tickets.
- Getting there: S59 and S78 buses. Contact: (718) 984-6046, admin@conferencehouse.org.
- Pair it with: the H.H. Biddle House at 70 Satterlee Street, which has its own free recurring exhibit on New York’s brick and terra cotta industry, Tuesdays–Fridays, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Worth being precise about what the conference was: a genuine attempt at a negotiated end to the Revolution, held by the losing side of the Battle of Long Island and made in bad faith on one end of the table. It failed over the one question that could not be finessed — whether the colonies were independent.
The practical case for going is simpler. It is free, it runs six days a week for three more months, it is indoors, and it is in a 265-acre shoreline park most New Yorkers have never set foot in — the S78 from the ferry drops you close enough to make a cold-weather half-day of it.