The Den of Marbletown in Kingston, NY
We’ve all gotten one, our very own teddy bear. Maybe yours was named Teddy. I named mine Bob. You can imagine how exciting it would be to see a whole house dedicated to teddy bears. Yes, there is such a place: The Den of Marbletown in Kingston, New York.
It is a Colonial farmhouse turned teddy bear museum by its owners, Steve and Nan. You drive up and are greeted by a sign with a smiling bear. You walk in and are met by Steve, who gives you a guided tour around the house. He tells you the history of teddy bears, which is actually quite interesting. The museum was opened when Nan was given a large collection of Steiff teddy bears by her mother. Steiff was the German company believed to have invented the teddy bear, which was named after President Teddy Roosevelt.
On our tour we saw the different rooms each lined wall to wall with toys. The rooms had setups bursting with color. One was full of circus bear, another of pigs at tea. We also saw how the teddy bear has evolved over the years. We tested out the old growler bears, which growl like a cub.
Upstairs, there were rooms with toys such as Barbies and porcelain dolls. If you go up another set of stairs, there are displays of animals in different settings. My sister would have spent hours in there with all of the dolls and toys. After the tour, you are able to buy your very own Steiff toy. They had some of the fuzziest bears, pigs and even puppies I’ve ever seen. We ended our visit with tea at their cafe. If you happen to be in Kingston, get ready for tons of fun and fuzz with a visit to The Den.