1855 Carpenter Gothic at Staten Island's living-history village
74 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island, NY 10306
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
The Parsonage is one of the historic structures at Historic Richmond Town; admission is paid to the village rather than to this building. The Parsonage Restaurant closed in 2008 and the building is currently available for adaptive reuse.
Access
Limited Access
Historic village pathways
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1855 · Carpenter Gothic Revival architecture · Historic Richmond Town living-history village · Dutch Reformed Church parsonage
The Parsonage was built in 1855 as the home for the pastor of the local Dutch Reformed Church and stands as a representative example of Carpenter Gothic Revival architecture. It is one of the more than two dozen historic structures preserved at Historic Richmond Town, the Staten Island Historical Society's living-history village.
Between 1993 and 1995 the building was altered for restaurant use, with the addition of a public restroom and industrial kitchen, and operated as the Parsonage Restaurant beginning in 1995. The restaurant ceased operations in 2008. Historic Richmond Town has since marketed the building for adaptive reuse while continuing to interpret it as part of the wider historic village.
Sources
Local Staten Island folklore associates the Parsonage with two recurring sightings recorded most often during the building's restaurant years between 1995 and 2008. Drivers and passersby on Arthur Kill Road reported seeing a woman in old-fashioned nineteenth-century clothing and a bonnet in an upper-floor window between roughly 10 PM and 2 AM, and described a single light bulb visible from outside that would flicker and sway.
Restaurant patrons described seeing figures in Civil War-era attire crossing the dining room and moving in the direction of the historic cemetery across Arthur Kill Road. These accounts appear in regional ghost-folklore writing and are repeated by staff at Historic Richmond Town. Because the Parsonage Restaurant has been closed since 2008, current sightings are limited and most reports trace to the restaurant era.
Tour the living-history village run by the Staten Island Historical Society, which includes the 1855 Parsonage among its more than two dozen historic structures. The Parsonage Restaurant ceased operations in 2008 and is currently being marketed for adaptive reuse.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
New Orleans, LA
Bottom of the Cup Tea Room has operated continuously since 1929 in the French Quarter. The building itself dates to the antebellum period when it served as a residence for Julie, an Octoroon woman maintained as the mistress of a wealthy Creole businessman. The structure represents French Quarter architecture and 19th-century social complexities.
Ocean Springs, MS
Aunt Jenny's Catfish Restaurant occupies an antebellum home in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, converted from its original residential purpose. The building housed an asylum at some point in its history, predating the restaurant's establishment. The restaurant has operated for decades as a regional dining destination, famous for catfish and the historic Julep Room basement where entertainment figures including Elvis Presley and Billie Holiday once gathered.
Virginia City, NV
The Washoe Club opened on B Street in Virginia City, Nevada on June 1, 1875 as a private social institution serving Comstock Lode mining magnates and visiting dignitaries. The original location burned in the Great Fire of October 1875; the club rebuilt in 1876 above a tavern on C Street, where it operated until 1897. The building today functions as a museum and saloon.