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Flickr user vk photography

In Benjamen Walker’s report, How I Spent My Summer Staycation, he spoke with Suzanne Reisman. She’s the author of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City’s Best Unusual Attractions, a book that promises vacation-style getaways …. all reachable by subway. She shared with us three of her favorite Subway Road trips for adventurous New Yorkers on a budget.

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Explore the Bronx by Subway and Foot

Flickr user 24 Gotham

Jump on the #4 train to the Bronx. The intrepid explorer can debark at Burnside Avenue and head over to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. On the way to this leafy, bizarre monument to 100 “great Americans” situated on what is now the Bronx Community College campus, you’ll pass by Aqueduct Walk, a portion of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. (This was originally the campus of NYU, which is responsible for the Hall of Fame.) Contemplate the various busts that represent each Hall of Famer, then hop back on the #4 train to Kingsbridge Rd. (or hike a mile up University Avenue if the weather is nice). Just west of the #4 station is the 258th Field Artillery Armory, reputedly the World’s Largest Armory. Sadly, the fantasy castle-like building is in horrific disrepair, but hopefully some day it will be restored and usable by the community. Continuing east on Kingsbridge Road, you will arrive at Edgar Allen Poe’s cottage. Yes, right in the center of Grand Concourse sits a cottage which contains the bed Poe’s wife Virgina died in! This is also where the great poet wrote Annabell Lee, Eureka, and The Bells. Ward off any bad karma from the cottage with potions, charms, amulets and/or talismans available at Original Products, a warehouse-like botanica at 2486 Webster Ave. Employees assured me that it is the largest store of its kind in New York. (To get there, continue east on E. Kingsbridge Rd, turn left on Celia Cruz Blvd., and then make a right on Webster Ave.) Before ending the trip at the D train back at Fordham Road, refresh yourself with a soft-serve cone from the retro Carvel a few doors down from Original Products, but please don’t eat on the train.

Take the A Train

Flickr user Gadget Lam

This subway road trip takes advantage of a single subway line that reaches 31 miles from the outermost part of Queens (the Rockaways) to the tip of Manhattan. It also goes through many periods of time in New York City. Begin the journey at the Weeksville Heritage Center (1698 Bergen Street; subway stop: Utica Avenue). Founded by James Weeks in 1838 as a self-sufficient community, Weeksville attracted people fleeing violence against blacks in other parts of New York City, as well as those escaping slavery in the South. By the 1960s, the dilapidated remains of Weeksville’s seven blocks “disappeared.” The Weeksville Heritage Center restored three homes from different points in Weeksville’s history, and offers visitors glimpse into the past. From Weeksville, travel forward a bit in time by visiting the New York City Transit Museum (in former subway station at corner of Boerum Pl. and Schermerhorn St.; subway stop: Hoyt-Schermerhorn). Clamboring around the subway cars from the 1940s and ’50s will make anyone appreciate today’s air conditioned models, although the idea of ceiling fans on the train is cool. To take a gander at another historic mode of transportation at the Waterfront Museum (290 Conover Street at Pier 44), the only surviving wooden barge from New York City’s bustling barge trade past, get off the subway at Jay Street-Borough Hall and take the B61 bus to the last stop (Beard and Van Brunt Streets). Before heading back to the A train, walk over to Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies (204 Van Dyke St.) and enjoy an individual pie in their adorable waterfall garden.

Flickr user annierberlin

The first stop on the Manhattan portion of this subway road trip is the 14th Street subway station. Wander around the platforms and upper level to absorb all the little bronze sculptures that make up Tom Otterness’s installation, “Life Underground,” which pokes fun at New York City legends such as alligators living in sewers. Next up is the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame (59th St-Columbus Circle). Located in the Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Columbus Circle mall, this classy multimedia venue offers insight into jazz’s greatest performers. Go from the cool jazz hall of fame to a sweatier one, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame (216 Ft. Washington Ave.; subway station: 168th St.). This loud multimedia venue has a great sneaker collection and a scale map of the New York City Marathon route.

Flickr user Moriza

Complete the subway road trip at the top of Manhattan. Pay homage to America’s first citizen saint, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, at her shrine (701 Ft. Washington Ave.; subway station: 190th St.). The patron saint of immigrants, Mother Cabrini can be viewed in her crystal casket with gold trim, and her worldly relics are on display in a back room. Buy a fragment of black cloth that touched the saint’s body in the gift shop, then head over to the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum (4881 Broadway; subway station: 207th St.), a colonial farm that exploited slave labor that was occupied by Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War. If it is not dark outside, walk up to Inwood Hill Park (218th St. and Indian Rd.) and check out the rock that marks the site of the best real estate deal in history: Peter Stuyvesant’s purchase of Manhattan for approximately $35 in beads and trinkets. Contemplate the tangled history of New York City with mofongo at any of the neighborhood’s Dominican restaurants or over a pint at one of the many Irish pubs that are around.

Journey through Queens

Flickr user Susan NYC

If graffiti is the art of the people, then what better place to take a look at what’s on New Yorker’s minds than at 5 Pointz (Davis St. and Jackson Ave.; 7 to 45th Rd-Court House Sq.)? The graffiti-encrusted warehouse is painted by permit only, and the vibrant colors pulse through murals of the ocean, the Simpsons, people squatting over real Dumpsters, relieving themselves. Head back to the 7 train and debark at 82nd St-Jackson Heights for miraculous cures to whatever ails you. At the two El Indio Amazonico stores (86-26 Roosevelt Ave. and 88-05 Roosevelt Ave.), spiritual healers work their magic, and candles, floor wash, religious statues, and dream catchers are available to bring home for protection from evil.

Flickr user The Mechanism

More miraculous is the quaint Louis Armstrong House (34-56 107th St; subway station: 103rd St-Corona Plaza). Hear the Great Satchmo himself hosting parties or just musing about life, as tour guides play clips from his thousands of recordings while you tour the home. Marvel at the ingenuity of the small kitchen and brilliant space-saving touches designed by Armstrong’s clever wife, Lucille. Next take a look at how much the City has changed since the 9,335 square foot Panorama of the City of New York was last updated in 1992 at the Queens Museum of Art (New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park; subway stop 111th St. or Willets Point-Shea Stadium). Don’t leave until the recorded show with spotlights has played.

Flickr user Tri X Guy

To get a peek into the lives of early Queens settlers, visit the Poppenhusen Institute settlement house in College Point (114-04 14th Road; subway stop: Flushing-Main St., then Q65 to 110th St and 14th Rd.). The building is the site of the first free kindergarten in the United States, and also houses two minuscule jail cells that held up to 14 people in each one at its peak. On site was also the first public library in the area, a court room, room for the Justice of the Peace, and the first location for the College Point Savings Bank. A small exhibit in the Institute on the neighborhood’s residents begins with the Matinecock Indians (and offers a wigwam for kids to climb in) and ends with important information about current neighborhood preservation efforts.

For more subway road trip ideas, you can check out Suzanne Reisman’s book Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City’s Best Unusual Attractions.