Staten Island's Living Village, Lit for December
Dusk settles over the restored houses of Historic Richmond Town, a living-history museum village on Staten Island, and the crowd gathers on the green for the annual Community Tree Lighting. Lantern light spills from doorways, the smell of woodsmoke and holiday baking drifts from the open-hearth kitchens, and neighbours in scarves press in for the countdown. The 2026 lighting falls on December 4 — one evening in a season that turns this village into the most atmospheric corner of New York City's fifth borough.
Wander the Village by Lantern and Candlelight
The village holds a collection of more than 60,000 objects across its restored buildings, and December is when that collection comes out to play. Guided walking tours with historical interpreters run from September 12 through December 20, 2026, leading you through restored interiors furnished with reproductions and original artefacts — a grounding in the place before the holiday programme begins.
- Candlelight Tours, December 11–12, 2026: evening tours by candlelight tracing 300-plus years of Staten Island yuletide traditions and the immigrant foodways that shaped them.
- Hearth & Harvest, November 21, 2026: Indigenous dance, storytelling and crafts in the 3rd County Courthouse and Native Encampment, plus costumed hearth-cooking demonstrations using 18th- and 19th-century recipes and tools.
- English country dance, from September 16, 2026: 18th-century social dancing in the village; no experience needed.
Christmas in Historic Richmond Town: The Open-House Weekend
Two days after the tree lighting, the village throws open its doors for Christmas in Historic Richmond Town, December 5–6, 2026. It is an open-house of living-history demonstrations, with a tinsmith, a carpenter and a general store to browse for gifts. A horse-drawn carriage works the grounds, Santa appears for the children, and local food is on offer — the closest thing the borough has to a village Christmas of two centuries ago, staged in the buildings that actually saw them.
Exhibitions Worth the Crossing
The village's museum programme runs well beyond December, and any visit can be built around it. The Vintage postcard exhibition from the William McMillen Collection sets early 20th-century Staten Island views against today's, charting the borough's history as an industrial hub and a summer destination (on view April 26, 2025 – April 4, 2027). Shoes: Two Centuries of Style and Function uses more than 25 original pairs — from early 19th-century wedding slippers to 1970s patriotic sneakers — to trace fashion, labour and identity (August 16, 2025 – September 16, 2027). And Founding Principles: The Declaration of Independence, Civics, and Staten Island opens June 27, 2026 for the US 250th anniversary, drawing on the 60,000-plus collection to examine local government's origins, civil liberties and the separation of powers. If your trip lands in mid-November, catch Janet Medoro's talk From the Stacks — Loring McMillen's Map of the American Revolution on November 14, 2026, built around McMillen's 1933 map of Revolutionary Staten Island.
Plan Around the Season
December is the village's peak, but the calendar rewards a longer view: the harvest programme in November, the candlelight evenings in mid-December, and the tree lighting itself on December 4. The site publishes seasonal opening hours, so check them before you travel, and note that discounted group rates are available for adults and children — useful if you are bringing a school, club or extended family. A newsletter sign-up on the official site will keep you posted as Christmas in Historic Richmond Town and the Candlelight Tours approach.
Set aside an afternoon and an evening for the village, then build the rest of your Staten Island day around it. Book your December dates early, check the seasonal hours, and let the tree lighting be the anchor of a winter weekend that feels a world away from Manhattan.