An Afternoon at the Intrepid Museum

November 2021

The Midtown rentals at 555TEN are near to the best of nature and culture in Manhattan. And a visit to the Hudson River and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will bring you both in the same perfect weekend afternoon. With the museum’s unparalleled collection of ships and aircraft, you’ll get a tactile, firsthand glimpse of history, as well as a chance to take in the views along the river and bask in the fall breezes rising from the water.

The USS Intrepid itself is a National Historic Landmark and a defining part of the visual terrain of the West Side’s river edge. The ship is a monument to history and the U.S. Navy, and it makes for a majestic sight to behold on a weekly jog or morning walk. Inside, you’ll learn about the aircraft carrier’s many lives serving in World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Also part of the museum complex is the submarine Growler, which is a guided-missile submarine — the only American submarine of its type open for public view. Here, you can visit mission control and get a feeling for navigating life-or-death scenarios under the sea. 

The Space Shuttle Pavilion houses the Enterprise, a shuttle that was one of the first of its kind and marked the beginning of the space shuttle program. Actual objects from missions, films, photographs, and audio immerse you in the sights and sounds of orbiting the Earth in space. Closer to Earth, but also formed at the peak of human ingenuity, is the British Airways Concorde, a plane that landed the fastest flight across the Atlantic at two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds. The story of the Concorde is a rich exploration of what engineering and design can do at the edges of possibility in flight. A close look at the cockpit and the massive jet engine makes the incredible power and revolutionary nature of this craft tangible.

The museum also includes temporary exhibits that go into detail about specific times, ships, and stories. “Navy Cakes: A Slice of History,” is a current show featuring photographs and grocery lists that reveal the herculean task of feeding an entire crew on the Intrepid, and of baking the giant cakes that were a big part of boosting morale on long and dangerous voyages.

The Intrepid Museum is the kind of place that becomes a touchstone of your neighborhood, a place where history comes alive. Its majestic relics line the waterfront that helps to make the luxury rentals in Manhattan at 555TEN a gateway to the city’s cultural gifts.