South Street Seaport Museum was founded in 1967 by Peter and Norma Stanford. When originally opened as a museum, the focus of the Seaport Museum conservation was to be an educational historic site, with "shops" mostly operating as reproductions of working environments found during the Seaport's heyday — 1820 to 1860.

Designated by Congress as America's National Maritime Museum in 1998, South Street Seaport Museum sits in a 12 square-block historic district that is the site of the original port of New York City. The Museum is comprised of over 30,000 square feet of exhibition space and educational facilities. It houses  exhibition galleries, a working 19th-century print shop, an archeology museum, a maritime library, a craft center, a marine life conservation lab, and the largest privately owned fleet of historic ships in the country. Included in this fleet are:

Peking, a 1911, four-masted barque
Wavertree, an 1885, fully-rigged cargo ship
Pioneer, an 1885 schooner
Lettie G. Howard, an 1893 schooner
Ambrose, a 1908 lightship
Helen McAllister, a 1900 tugboat
W.O. Decker, a 1930 tugboat
Marion M., a 1932 chandlery lighter

Almost all buildings and the entire Seaport neighborhood are meant to transport the visitor back in time to New York's mid-1800s, to demonstrate what life in the commercial maritime trade was like. Docked at the Seaport are a few historical sailing vessels, including the Flying P-Liner, Peking and museum ships. A section of nearby Fulton Street is preserved as cobblestone and lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. The Seaport itself now operates primarily as a mall and tourism center. Built on Pier 17 on the East River, visitors are offered shops and a food court. Decks outside allow views of the East River, Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Heights.