Address: 44-02 23rd St., Ste. 219, Long Island City, and www.
astorialic.org. After recently leaving a 10,000-square-foot space
that it had occupied for 25 years, GAHS is currently looking for
a permanent location.
KING MANOR
Rufus King (1755-1827) was the youngest signer of the United
States Constitution, a senator, an ambassador to Great Britain,
and a candidate for president. He was also an early voice in the
anti-slavery movement who employed and paid workers rather
than practice slavery on his farm in Jamaica.
From 1805 to 1896, King and his descendants lived in what is
now an 11-acre property called “Rufus King Park.” They raised
livestock and sowed wheat, barley, potatoes, corn, strawberries,
apples, and peaches. Their three-story, three-chimney mansion
with clapboard windows is now a museum, displaying furniture,
glassware, clothes, musical instruments, toys, ceramics,
paintings, and prints.
Inside scoop: Added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1974, King Manor hosts numerous seasonal festivals, classical
music concerts, and even swearing-in ceremonies for new
citizens.
Address: Rufus King Park, in the vicinity of Jamaica and 89th
Avenues between 150th and 153rd Streets, Jamaica, and www.
kingmanor.org.
KINGSLAND HOMESTEAD
(QUEENS HISTORICAL SOCIETY)
The Kingsland Homestead was built in 1785 by original resident
Charles Doughty, the son of a wealthy Quaker. The two-story
dwelling became “Kingsland” after Doughty’s son-in-law, British
sea captain Joseph King, bought the property in 1801.
The first floor has a 1,350-square-foot exhibition-and-lecture
space. The second-floor parlor is designed in a Victorian style
representative of the 1870s with lacework and items (i.e.
notebooks, eyeglasses) that former inhabitants used. The structure
has a gambrel roof, a crescent-shaped window in a side gable, a
Federal-period chimney piece with an iron Franklin stove, and a
Dutch-style, two-level front door.
Currently, Kingsland is home to the Queens Historical Society,
which runs educational programs, exhibitions, and a research
center there. The society publishes a quarterly newsletter and
presents public programs that include lectures, film screenings,
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/www.astorialic.org
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/kingmanor.org
