[3] One of over 50 day hotels in or near New York City, the Mount Vernon attracted middle-class guests with leisure activities such as boating trips, unusual exhibitions, reading, and making new friends.

[4][5][6] Frances Trollope and James Stuart, a Scottish diarist, are two foreign travelers who visited New York City during the time when the Mount Vernon Hotel operated under Hart.

At the time, the surrounding blocks were not given a specific name (unlike other parts of the Upper East Side), and much of the former Mount Vernon estate had been demolished to make way for the Queensboro Bridge, which had opened in 1908.

[7] The museum tells the story of New York City's tremendous period of growth following the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, one year before the Mount Vernon Hotel opened.

Annual events include the George Washington's Birthday Ball, Halloween Murder Mystery, and Candlelight Holiday Tours.

[11] Each summer, Hearst Fellows conduct original research on aspects of New York history and daily life, including trade, travel, leisure, education, urban development, popular music, and gender and race relationships of the 1820s–30s.