Walking tours of Hamilton sites in NYC?
Nov 16 2017, 12:13:33 AM
We have had fun creating a few of our own historical tours over the years whenever we have been in the USA. I’d recommend the following:
Manhattan Downtown
Battery Park
Fraunces Tavern, 54 Pearl Street (lovely spot in front of the fire if it’s cold, great historical meeting place for the revolutionaries)
Trinity Church and graveyard, 75 Broadway (Hamilton, Eliza, Phillip, Angelica Schuyler (Church), and Hercules Mulligan all buried here.
New York Stock Exchange, 11 Wall Street
Federall Hall, 26 Wall Street
Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall Street (Hamilton Room)
The Room Where it Happened, 57 Maiden Lane (there’s a plaque)
Manhattan Midtown
New York Public Library, 476 Fifth Avenue (have a lot of original Hamilton documents, check for Hamilton exhibition schedules)
New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (They did for a time have the famous dueling statues on display, but they have other Hamilton/Burr/Washington artifacts on display, great NY historical exhibitions, and some cool Hamilton stuff in the gift shop.)
Hamilton Statue, Central Park (on East Drive, behind the Metropolitan Museum)
Hamilton Statue, Museum of the City of New York, 1220 5th Ave and 103rd St In the building facade niche facing Central Park (although was removed recently for refurbishment. Not sure when back on display. http://www.mcny.org/statues
Manhattan Uptown
Hamilton Hall and statue, Columbia University, Morningside Heights campus, 116th Street/1130 Amsterdam Ave.
Morris-Jumel Mansion, 65 Jumel Terrace (Hamilton-Burr history)
Hamilton Grange, 414 West 141st Street on St Nicholas Ave (Hamilton’s last family home) Gift shop and tour (and don’t forget to ask at the desk for directions to the former site of Hamilton Grange, just up the street and right around the corner into Convent Avenue. At 287 Convent Ave, almost forgotten behind an iron fence and tangle of vines, stands New York’s forgotten Hamilton statue, sculpted in 1892 by William Ordway Partridge. The statue was commissioned for the Hamilton Club in Brooklyn Heights, where it stood until 1936, when it was donated to the Grange trust. When Hamilton Grange was uprooted in 2008 and moved around the corner, the statue was never relocated due to lack of funds. Always extra points if you snap this one.)
Off the island
Dueling Grounds
The Weekhawken dueling grounds across the Hudson River are well worth a visit. Not just for the Hamiltonian connection, statue etc. but for the exceptional photo opportunity of Manhattan island, day or night. Don’t do what we did and arrive by ferry at Port imperial, as there is a hysterically high cliff to climb when you get there. We returned to midtown by a bus that came right past the Dueling Grounds on JF Kennedy Blvd E and goes right back to the Port Authority bus terminal on 42nd Street. Takes 15 mins. Bus #165/166 or #128. Lucky thing too, as we were flying back to Australia that very afternoon. Cutting it a bit fine.
Morristown, NJ
A lovely half day’s tour from Manhattan. About an hour on the train each way, then an easy stroll around the delightful township, site of Washington’s 1777 winter encampment for the Continental Army. So if you go in winter you will really get a sense of what it was like, although apparently it was one of the worst winters in memory. Items of interest: Morristown Green and the lovely statue of Washington, Hamilton and Lafayette in discussion. The Hamilton-Schuyler mansion, where Hamilton first met and courted Eliza, (call first to organize a tour), the Ford Mansion and Museum, where Washington/Hamilton etc were encamped. Daily tours of the mansion and museum with lots of historical artifacts).
Philadelphia/Washington DC/Virginia
Several hours by fast train south from NYC gets you to the birthplace of Independence and other revolutionary and Washington/Hamilton/Jefferson-related sites like various homes where they lived (like Mount Vernon and Monticello), The National Treasury, Washington and Jefferson Memorials, Independence Hall etc etc. If you have a day or two up your sleeve I think these are great short trips for those interested in US Independence. Although perhaps winter wouldn’t be the best weather down there. Still, save it for a later trip. We rode bicycles from DC to Mount Vernon in Virginia in the Fall and it was spectacular.
Lots more Hamilton/Independence sites to see. I'm sure I've forgotten some. But these are probably the main ones.
|
