[sampano file=”snug-harbor” title=”Snug Harbor :: New York City”]

Founded in 1808 by Captain Robert Richard Randall (for whom the nearby neighborhood of Randall Manor is named), Sailors Snug Harbor was the first and only home for retired merchant seamen in the history of the United States, when it opened in 1833. By 1900 it housed approximately 1,000 ex-sailors; however this number would decline soon after the Social Security system was implemented in the United States, and by the mid-1950s less than 200 residents remained.

On September 12, 1976, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center was officially opened to the public