The Bartow Mansion

In the 1840s, Robert Bartow moved his wife, Maria Lorillard—of the wealthy Lorillard tobacco family—and their children into the newly built Bartow-Pell Mansion, a grand Greek Revival home meant to show off their wealth and status. Inside, the family filled the rooms with fine furniture, imported decorations, and artwork, turning it into a refined country estate far from the crowded city.

While the house stood as a symbol of elegance with its tall columns and high ceilings, the real story was the people inside it: Robert managed the farmland and tried to maintain the family’s fortune, Maria connected the household to one of New York’s richest dynasties, and their children grew up surrounded by servants, orchards, and the quiet waters of Pelham Bay. Life was privileged but not without struggle—Robert’s finances weakened later on, and after his death in 1868, the family could not hold onto the property, ending the Bartow's’ era in the Bronx.

Today, the house is a museum inside Pelham Bay Park where people can tour the rooms, see old furniture, and walk through the gardens, keeping the Bartow's’ story alive as part of Bronx history.