Where in Bayside can you hear a Croatian music program, sit in on a novel discussion, join a sewing circle and take the kids to meet Santa, all in one building, over five weeks, without crossing the Cross Island Parkway? All of it happens at an 1887 officers' club at 208 Totten Avenue, on a late-fall schedule regular enough to plan around.
The Bayside Historical Society runs The Castle at Fort Totten. Between now and mid-December, almost everything on its calendar falls in one of two slots: Thursday evenings at 7:30 or Sunday afternoons. A household can keep one weeknight and one weekend afternoon open and catch most of what runs between now and the holidays.
Thursday Nights at 7:30
The weeknight programs all start at the same hour and run 90 minutes. That makes them easy to fit after work for anyone living between Bell Boulevard and the Whitestone waterfront.
Tonight, Thursday, November 12, the BHS Book Club meets at 7:30 p.m. to discuss Victor LaValle's The Changeling. It's a dark fantasy and horror novel set in New York City neighborhoods, so the setting will feel familiar. The listing offers an RSVP.
One week later, on Thursday, November 19, the Society hosts My Vietnam: An Author Talk with Joan Furey, 7:30 to 9 p.m. Admission is $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers and free for veterans. That November evening fits naturally with the building's own military past.
The last Thursday program of the year is on December 3: Saving Radio City Music Hall, a talk by Rosemary Novellino-Mearns about her memoir and her campaign to keep the Midtown landmark from being demolished. It also runs 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers, and you can buy them online or by phone. A preservation story told inside a preserved 19th-century building suits the venue.
All three evenings cost $15 or less for a nonmember. Membership brings the paid talks down to $5 or $10, which matters if Thursday nights at The Castle turn into a habit.
Sunday Afternoons, Sometimes Twice Over
On Sundays the schedule stacks up, and Fort Totten Park itself joins in. The densest day left on the November calendar is Sunday, November 15, when two separate organizations use the grounds a few hours apart.
- 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. NYC Parks Urban Park Rangers lead Invasive Plant Removal and Native Species Planting at the Fort Totten Visitors Center. It's a hands-on stewardship program. It's free and needs no registration.
- 3 to 4:30 p.m. The Music of Croatia at the BHS Castle, with tickets at $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers.
That leaves a two-and-a-half-hour gap between the end of the Rangers program and the start of the concert. You could spend it walking the fort grounds or going home for lunch and coming back. It's the only Sunday left this year when a Rangers program and a Society program share the same day.
The other Sunday pattern repeats every month. On the second Sunday, the Society holds two events in the same 1 to 3 p.m. window. Open Sew at The Castle is an informal gathering for sewing, quilting, embroidery or other handwork. Bring your own project. It costs $8 for members and $10 for nonmembers. In the same building and the same window, staff and volunteers lead the Second Sunday Castle Tours.
The November round of both ran on November 8. The next one is Sunday, December 13.
What the Tour Actually Shows You
The tours are free, but you have to reserve. Each lasts about 45 minutes, with one starting at 1 p.m. and a second at 2 p.m. With only two departures per month, the December 13 tour is the last chance of the year to walk through with a guide.
NYC Parks describes the building this way:
"The Castle in Fort Totten is one of New York City's finest surviving examples of Gothic Revival castellated-style architecture."
The building was completed in 1887 and first served as the Officers' Mess Hall and Club for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers School of Application. That history explains why the place suits the use it has now. It was built for officers to gather, eat and spend evenings together. A book club on a Thursday night or a concert on a Sunday afternoon is close to what the rooms were designed for, 139 years later.
It also helps to take the tour before you come to anything else. Open Sew, the author talks and the holiday party all happen in these rooms, and they mean more once you know what the building was.
The Holiday Weekend Bayside High Students Set Up
The Castle's holiday weekend takes two days of work.
On Saturday, December 5, the building is closed to the public. The Society calls in what it calls "our holiday elves": the Key Club of Bayside High School and their moderator, Steve Jacoby. They come to decorate The Castle for the holidays. The Society lists it as a private event.
The next afternoon, Sunday, December 6, from 3 to 5 p.m., the doors open for the Family Holiday Celebration at The Castle. It includes crafts for kids, music, games, snacks, storytelling and a visit from Santa. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The Society encourages reserving ahead and notes that door sales may be limited once the event reaches capacity. For a family of four, that's $30 and a reservation you'll want to make before the weekend.
The two days work as one handoff. Local high school students dress the building on Saturday, and families from the same streets fill it on Sunday.
December 6 also mattered just up the shoreline last year. As QNS reported, Whitestone's 2025 tree lighting took place on December 6 at the Harpell parking lot. The Whitestone Merchant's Association and the Queens Chamber of Commerce organized it, with sponsorship from Council Member Vickie Paladino and We Love Whitestone. We Love Whitestone points readers to its Facebook page for current event details. That's the place to check if you're hoping to pair a Castle afternoon with an evening in Whitestone this year.
Getting Through the Gate
All of the above takes place inside a former Army post, and the free parking sits outside its gate. The Bayside Historical Society's visitor page gives directions:
- Head for the corner of Bell Boulevard and 212th Street. That's the Fort Totten entrance.
- Choose your approach. From the Clearview Expressway, take Exit 7 for Willets Point Boulevard. Turn right onto the Cross Island Parkway service road, then left at the third light onto 212th Street, which leads into Fort Totten. From the Cross Island Parkway, take Exit 32 for Bell Boulevard and turn right at the light into Little Bay Park and Fort Totten Park.
- Park outside the fort. Free parking is in the Little Bay Park lot just outside the Fort Totten entrance, at 212th Street and the Cross Island Parkway. From there it's a short walk in.
- Count four buildings. Once you're inside the park, the Society is the fourth building on the right, Building 208.
- If you need closer parking, tell the gate. Visitors who need special access can tell the attendant at the front gate that they'll be parking near the Society. There's limited parking on Weaver Avenue, which starts in front of The Castle and runs toward the water, and on Murray Street, which runs diagonally from The Castle. Questions go to the Society at 718-352-1548.
The Fort Totten Visitors Center is the meeting point for the November 15 Rangers program. It sits at 212th Street and Bell Boulevard, just behind the baseball field, and opens Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Its phone number is 718-352-1769. Those weekend hours line up closely with the Society's Sunday programs, which makes it easy to fill a whole Sunday afternoon at the fort.
The Rest of the Year, Date by Date
Here is everything still ahead on the public calendar from publish day forward:
- Thu, Nov 12, 7:30 p.m. BHS Book Club, The Changeling
- Sun, Nov 15, 11 a.m. Invasive Plant Removal and Native Species Planting, Visitors Center, free
- Sun, Nov 15, 3 p.m. The Music of Croatia, $10 members / $15 nonmembers
- Thu, Nov 19, 7:30 p.m. My Vietnam author talk with Joan Furey, $5 / $10, free for veterans
- Thu, Dec 3, 7:30 p.m. Saving Radio City Music Hall author talk, $10 / $15
- Sun, Dec 6, 3 p.m. Family Holiday Celebration, $10 adults / $5 children
- Sun, Dec 13, 1 p.m. Open Sew, $8 / $10, and Second Sunday Castle Tours, free with reservation
The calendar continues into the new year. The Society's Argentine Tango Class and Performance has been rescheduled to Sunday, April 4, 2027, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers, and instructors will teach beginner steps along with the dance's history. Times and prices above come from the Society's and NYC Parks' current listings, so check the event page before you go.
If you're weighing a move within northeast Queens, or wondering what your home is worth in a market where landmarks like Fort Totten shape daily routines, Irene Rallis would be glad to talk it through. Request your complimentary home valuation, and we can start with the streets around Bell Boulevard and 212th Street.
