One can’t discuss the history of New York without looking at the role the waterfront has played, from immigration to trans-Atlantic shipping. The museum accomplishes this with over 30,000 square feet of exhibition space and a collection that includes more than 20,000 paintings, ship models, ocean liner memorabilia, scrimshaw, and historical objects.

Located in a 12-square-block historic district on the East River, the site of the original port of New York, the museum includes a re-creation of a 19th-century print shop, and two early-20th-century ships, the Peking and the Ambrose, that you can board on Pier 16.

Favorite feature: The 1940 painting ‘‘New Amsterdam 1660.’’ Based on Dutch records, it re-creates a country landscape with small houses and open space that’s hard to reconcile with today’s metropolis.

12 Fulton St., 212-748-8600, southstreetseaportmuseum.org. Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (times change in November). Adults $10, students $8, ages 5-11 $5, under 5 and museum members free.