807 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in New York State - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in New York State

New York, New York

City Hall Station

A beautiful and abandoned New York subway station from 1904, complete with chandelier.

Rebekah Otto

Added by Rebekah Otto

New York, New York

Evolution Nature Store

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

Added by mbison

New York, New York

Dream House

La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's "Dream House" will immerse you in an ever changing world of sound and light.

seanmattison

Added by seanmattison

New York, New York

Mmuseumm

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

New York, New York

Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital Ruins

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

Rebekah Otto

Added by Rebekah Otto

New York, New York

Obscura Antiques and Oddities

Tucked in the back of this amazing antique store is an important piece of medical history.

Dylan

New York, New York

Explorers Club Headquarters

A treasure trove of artifacts, books, and artwork from the "golden age" of exploration.

Annetta Black

Added by Annetta Black

New York, New York

5 Beekman Street

This beautiful building in the heart of Manhattan's Financial District was empty for decades.

bboas

See All 807 Things to Do in New York State See All 807 Places

Unique
Food & Drink
in New York State

Egg Cream

Gastro Obscura

Egg Cream

A fizzy, chocolate drink that harkens back to the days of Brooklyn soda fountains.

Gastro Obscura

rachelrummel

Added by rachelrummel

Sugar on Snow

Gastro Obscura

Sugar on Snow

Where maple sap flows, all one needs to make taffy is snow.

Gastro Obscura

rachelrummel

Added by rachelrummel

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Gastro Obscura

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

A cake as dark as a city hiding from enemy bombers.

Gastro Obscura

rachelrummel

Added by rachelrummel

Superman Ice Cream

Gastro Obscura

Superman Ice Cream

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a classic Midwestern treat!

Gastro Obscura

rachelrummel

Added by rachelrummel

See all 38 things to eat in New York State See all 38 things to eat in New York State

Atlas Obscura Trips

Only in Queens: Tasting Our Way Through New York’s Most Diverse Borough

Manhattan may have name-brand recognition and Brooklyn a certain cachet, but Queens is the city’s largest and most diverse borough. Join us, October 4-7, to dig into Queens’ rich neighborhood life.

Photo by Travis Yewell on Unsplash

Community Forums / United States / US: Northeast

Top Discussions in the US: Northeast Travel Forum

Post	Replies	Views	Activity
New England Road Trip	26 September 16, 2019	940	September 16, 2019
Liederkranz Cheese	10 August 29, 2019	752	August 29, 2019
Try our NYC culinary scavenger hunt!	4 July 18, 2019	934	July 18, 2019
Road Trip Creepy/ Cool things to see Traveling from New York to Salem, MA	7 August 18, 2019	909	August 18, 2019
Chop Suey Sandwich	4 August 14, 2019	429	August 14, 2019

New Post Visit the Forum

Explore New York State

Launch Map

Upcoming New York State Experiences

Tour NYC’s Industrial Waterway

Brooklyn, New York

Behind the Scenes at the City Reliquary

Brooklyn, New York

Curator's Tour of NY's Only Indie Arcade

Brooklyn, New York

Inside the Holographer's Laboratory

New York, New York

Tour the House of Wax with the Curator

Brooklyn, New York

Visit NYC's Oldest Magic Shop After Dark

New York, New York

$115 per person

New York State Leaderboard

Places Added

Places Edited

Places Visited

Recent New York State Activity

burned bright wants to go to Parksville

peregrine79 wants to go to Blue Sky Mausoleum

sandikieffer wants to go to The Elevated Acre

sandikieffer wants to go to Please Don't Tell

sandikieffer wants to go to 5 Beekman Street

Stories
About New York State

Trout lilies in the memorial garden.

Centuries Later, America's First Female Botanist Lives On in a Community Garden

Jane Colden defied gender barriers to become an early expert in Linnaean taxonomy.

by Sabrina Imbler

September 20, 2019

Midnight feasts and fudge-making were mild forms of college rebellion.

America's Early Female College Students Held Illicit Fudge Parties

"Vassar chocolates" became emblems of women's education.

Three men feast on free lunch in this drawing by Charles Dana Gibson.

To Evade Pre-Prohibition Drinking Laws, New Yorkers Created the World's Worst Sandwich

It was everywhere at the turn of the 20th century. It was also inedible.

by Darrell Hartman

A 1973 chicken barbecue fundraiser for a fire department.

Why All of Upstate New York Grew Up Eating the Same Barbecue Chicken

The true legacy of the Cornell professor who invented the chicken nugget.

by Sarah Laskow

Two of Tanaka's botanical watercolor paintings. <em>Jack in the Pulpit</em> on left, <em>Mountain Laurel</em> on right.

How One Woman Transforms Plants Into Pigment

Kazumi Tanaka paints the natural world with the essence of flowers.

by Evan Nicole Brown

November 07, 2018

General's Tso's chicken ice cream, served "Chop suey" style.

The 'Chop Suey Sundae' Isn't What You Think It Is

An ice cream topping once had the same name.

September 05, 2018

The "Battle of the Tea" is on.

Was the Long Island Iced Tea Invented in ... Tennessee?

"Not since the 'Battle of Long Island' has Long Island's honor been so challenged."

Seongmin Ahn's "Multifaceted Potato" incorporates actual potatoes.

The Art Show That's All Potatoes

It's courtesy of the tuber's biggest hype man.

Lists Featuring
New York State