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In 1840, Robert Bartow would have had to awaken at dawn to reach New York City from his home for an afternoon in the city. What once took Bartow's horse and carriage two and a half hours can now be done in a matter of minutes.
Now the public can hop in their cars and drive to Bartow's 150-year-old stone Carriage House, which is being used for education programs, exhibits and living history demonstrations.
Philanthropist Brooke Astor and city Parks and Recreation Commissioner Betsy Gotbaum were at the carriage house to open the site.
Fifty fourth-graders from PS 175 on City Island joined in the ceremony, preceded by a parade of antique carriages, a haycart and a fife and drum corps.
The Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, on Shore Road in Pelham Bay Park, is one of 16 historic houses owned by the city Parks and Recreation Department. Built about 1840, the stone, three-story carriage house is the only surviving outbuilding on the estate.
"No other building of this type exists in...