Deborah Woodbridge is among a very select number of New Yorkers who live as caretakers of city-owned historic homes. This comes with considerable perks — she pays no rent — but also considerable responsibilities. She maintains the house year-round, and eight months of the year she spends her weekends giving tours.

Ms. Woodbridge lives at the Conference House, a stone house built around 1680 that was the site of a failed 1776 peace conference to end the Revolutionary War. At the southernmost tip of New York State, on Raritan Bay, in Tottenville, Staten Island, the house is owned by the City of New York and sits on land under the jurisdiction of the New York City Parks Department. It is operated by the Conference House Association, and is a member of the Historic House Trust.