October 12, 2007
Up in the attic at the Staten Island Museum
Only once a year does the Staten Island Museum allow visitors access up to its top floor -- in the spaces occupied by thousands of bugs sorted in wooden boxes, Dutch pipes and Native American artifacts from sites now covered over by malls and houses, glass beer bottles from long-shuttered New York breweries and a bust of Presudent Theodore Roosevelt that not even the museum researchers know where it came from.
 This past weekend, the attic was open for free tours as part of the fifth annual Open House New York. The hour-long, free tour was led by Ed Johnson, the director of science. And unlike some of the packed OHNY events in Manhattan, on Sunday afternoon, Johnson led a tour of just five people through the workspace -- opening up drawer upon drawer of artifacts, handing over everything from thousands-of-years-old grooved ax fragments to giant ostrich eggs.
A pair of hip-high wading boots hung from the rafters, microscopes lined one counter top, a leaf-and-flower press was tucked in one corner, taxidermied owls and other critters perched from the ends of bookcases and even a few bug-themed "Far Side" cartoons were taped about. Unsorted, donated collections filled some spaces, and the filing system ranged fom the pristine - typed dates and descriptions on latched wooden boxes -- to the less so.
 Bugs are the star attraction, though. The Staten Island Museum has the largest cicada collection in the United States, with 35,000 in total. (Important note for future brides and grads who may hold outdoor ceremonies: 2013 (May and June) is the next big year for cicadas in New York, Johnson said. The critters, which hibernate for 17 years, will be big that year on Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey - maybe Brooklyn and Queens, though Manhattan should be OK.)
When you arrive at the top of the stairs into the attic, you're greeted by a full (plastic) human skeleton left over from a downstairs exhibit. Close examination reveals not only that the skeleton is "reading," but that his book is propped open to a page about the Death Head's Moth.
Johnson, who was once the caretaker of a house that was said to be haunted, said there's been no hint of ghosts in the museum attic though he said it can be weird at night. During the daytime, it's well lit by the windows that offer glimpses of the harbor and the Staten island Ferry terminal just a block down the hill.
 The public part of the museum itself covers only one floor and can be seen pretty quickly. Not to miss is the room filled with artifacts from the century-old Staten Island Ferry. On one wall, there's a map explaining all the main sights you can see from the ferry – including the history behind the Robbins Reef Lighthouse. The displays elsewhere are also kind of fun – including a stash of things people have brought into the museum including a hairball from a cow's stomach and a four-legged chicken. They're displayed, as the sign says, "for your viewing pleasure."
The suggested admission is normally only $2, but it's completely free on Tuesdays and Fridays from noon to 2 p.m.
The Staten Island Museum is located at 75 Stuyvesant Place, map, a short walk from the ferry landing. This week the museum opens a new exhibit, "This Was Our Paradise: Spanish Camp, 1929-Today."
See more pictures after the jump.
October 12, 2007 10:01 AM in Cheap Stuff, History, Kids, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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