The Atlas Obscura Guide To Albany

4 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Albany, New York

Updated February 28, 2024

Unusual Attractions in Albany

Albany, New York

The First Shaker Village

The first American home of the isolated, egalitarian religion has a trove of Shaker architecture and artifacts.

The two mummies at the Albany Institute of History and Art.

Albany, New York

The Mummy Ankhefenmut

A CT scan revealed the identity of this 3,000-year-old mummy that everyone erroneously thought was female.

Nipper looks out over the Warehouse District on a clear February day.

Albany, New York

World’s Largest Nipper Statue

This giant monument of the RCA mascot is a beloved fixture in Albany, New York.

Albany, New York

American Italian Heritage Museum

The largest museum dedicated to Italian Americans on the East Coast is located in a 100-year-old church.

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The grave site of President Chester A. Arthur

Menands, New York

Albany Rural Cemetery

The final resting place of President Chester A. Arthur and hundreds of others from Revolutionary War soldiers to poets, politicians, and painters.

3 miles from Albany

Troy, New York

Woodside

A man used his Civil War-era fortune to build this sanctuary in memory of his wife.

4 miles from Albany

Troy, New York

Troy Gasholder Building

This relic of 19th-century infrastructure is one of the few remaining coal gas storage tanks in the U.S.

5 miles from Albany

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New York has been described as a playground for the rich and powerful, but the state's history is full of ordinary people who have overcome extraordinary struggles. What if Seneca Falls, the village that launched the fight for women's suffrage, were as famous as Niagara Falls? What if Weeksville, the historic free Black community in Brooklyn, were as well-known as Williamsburg? From immigrant sanctuaries to the Survivor Tree, here are sites where New York has shown its resilience.

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