Oneida Community Mansion House
170 Kenwood Ave
Oneida, NY 13421

Once home to the utopian Oneida Community (1848-1880), this 93,000 sq. ft. National Historic Landmark houses a museum with permanent and changing exhibitions, residential apartments, overnight lodging, Kenwood and Vine restaurant, and banquet and meeting space. The wheelchair accessible site is open year-round for self-guided and guided tours, excluding major holidays.  The property encompasses 200 acres including the Oneida Community Cemetery, historic gardens and grounds, and the country's first corporate golf course. A Black Walnut tree and a Tulip tree are designated New York State champions.

 

Mission

 

Using its historic site and collections, the non-profit Oneida Community Mansion House shares the story of the Oneida Community – one of the most radical and successful of the 19th century social experiments – to explore pressing social issues that still confront audiences today.

History

 

If your home is a reflection of who you are, no more perfect example exists than the Oneida Community Mansion House.  Built brick by brick in stages beginning in 1861 by the utopian Oneida Community (1848-1880), the 93,000 square foot Mansion House testifies to the Community’s core belief in the possibility of personal and social perfection. In plan and decoration it reflects popular architectural styles of the mid-19th century, but its large scale epitomizes the needs of a society that lived as one family with more than 300 members.

 

For 33 years under the leadership of John Humphrey Noyes, the religiously-based Perfectionist Community challenged contemporary social views on property ownership, gender roles, child-rearing practices, monogamous marriage, and work.  From their insistence on life-long learning and vigorous health, the abandonment of the self for the good of the whole, they developed a work ethic and well of industriousness so deep it flowed into one of the most impressive manufacturing companies of the 20th century.

Succumbing to internal and external pressures, the Community disbanded in 1880 and formed a joint-stock corporation, Oneida Community Ltd. Eventually changing its name to Oneida Ltd., the company achieved world-wide recognition for the tableware it produced in Sherrill, NY. A non-profit organization chartered in 1987 by the New York State Board of Regents oversees this magnificent National Historic Landmark.