Valentine-Varian House

Location: 3266 Bainbridge Avenue at East 208th Street
Phone: (718) 881-8900
Description: The second oldest house in the Bronx, the Valentine-Varian House was built by blacksmith and farmer Isaac Valentine in 1758, a time when carriages traveled the nearby Boston Post Road through a Bronx that was still mostly farmland. During the Revolutionary War, Valentine and his family had to abandon their two-story fieldstone home, which was occupied by British, Hessian, and American troops. Though close to several fierce battles with cannons clustered on a nearby hill, the house miraculously survived. In 1965, the house was donated to The Bronx County Historical Society, moved diagonally across the street to its present location on a new foundation, and now operates as the Museum of Bronx History.