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14. Fraunces Tavern - 54 Pearl Street
George Washington and other American leaders gathered at this tavern to celebrate the evacuation of the British from New York on November 25, 1783. Washington visited again on December 4th for a farwell banquet with his officers. After Washington became president, the tavern�s owner, Samuel
Fraunces, served as his chief steward in New York. Today Fraunces Tavern houses a museum. Call: (212) 425-1778.
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15. The Stadt Huys - Pearl Street and Coenties Slip
In the seventeenth century Pearl Street bordered the East River before landfill expanded Manhattan�s shoreline. This was the site of the Stadt
Huys, a large stone building that was New Amsterdam�s and later New York�s first City Hall from 1653-1699. Peter
Stuyvesant, the Director General of New Netherlands from 1647-64, often visited the Stadt
Huys.
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16. Vietnam Veteran�s Memorial
- Water Street at Coenties Slip
Emotions still ran high when this memorial to the Vietnam War was erected in 1984-85. The glass is etched with excerpts from letters written by soldiers killed in the conflict. A flag commemorating prisoners of war and those missing in action flies over the monument.
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17. New York City Police Museum -
100 Old Slip
Originally the First Precinct police station, this 1909 buildings is now a police museum. Displays celebrate police history and leaders like Theodore Roosevelt who as head of the Police Board in 1895 led the fight against civic and police corruption. To contact the Museum: (212) 480-3800.
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18.
Hanover Square
- William and Beaver Streets
A gas pipe explosion in a dry goods store fronting this square set off the Great Fire of 1835 which ultimately destroyed 674 buildings. In 1845 another fire in this area destroyed an additional three hundred buildings.
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19.
Charging Bull
- Bowling Green Plaza
After a fall of the Stock Market index in 1989 sculptor Arturo Di Modica illegally placed this huge bull (symbol of an up market) outside the New York Stock Exchange. The sculpture was so popular it was moved to this location, where it remains on extended loan.
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20.
Standard Oil Building
- 26 Broadway
Standard Oil made John D. Rockefeller the richest and most controversial person in America. This grand building (1928) replaced his earlier office and was once capped with a perpetually burning oil flame. Today the basement houses the Museum of American Financial History. For Museum Information call: (212) 908-4110
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Walking
tour map
(mouse over for detail) |
Lower Manhattan
A map and walking tour |
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". . . The search for New York City's roots leads straight to Lower Manhattan. Here at the island's southern tip,
fertile land meets the deep water of one of the world's finest harbors. Native
Americans came here to hunt and fish, leaving a network of forest paths that later formed the basis for many of the city's streets. The first European to enter the harbor was Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524. Henry Hudson came in 1609, landed briefly on Manhattan Island
and then explored the river now bearing his name. New Amsterdam dates from 1626, when, according to legend, Peter Minuit and the Dutch West India Company purchased Manhattan from local Native Americans for a mere twenty-four dollars in trinkets . . ."