July 30, 2010
Highlights of Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, the geographic and historic starting point of New York City, is home to national monuments and memorials that reflect the nation's history, as well as scores of contemporary museums, cultural groups, public art works and performing arts centers. Free dance and music take to the streets and parks during the summer-long River to River Festival, beginning June 20.
Finding one's way around this tip of the island is made a bit more challenging by the layout of its streets, which were drawn before the City's 1811 grid plan. City Hall, just south of Chambers Street, was receiving its finishing touches in 1811, when the land north of it was still largely undeveloped.
The Alliance for the Arts' new Lower Manhattan map (PDF) highlights cultural attractions, from the African Burial Ground National Monument on Duane Street to the harbor's islands. The map is free and available at visitor centers and featured cultural organizations.
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This Hallowed Ground: Africans in New York History Tour
National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy
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Join national park rangers on a tour of Lower Manhattan to learn about New York's early Africans-enslaved and free. Also hear audio clips from Christopher Moore, historian, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Mike Wallace, author, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. More -
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Through models, renderings, films and time-lapse images, the public can learn about the future National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and view construction progress at the World Trade Center site. More -
Action Center to End World Hunger
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With exhibitions, interactive stations and talks, the Action Center welcomes visitors to learn about global hunger and poverty how the public can combat these issues. School groups are welcome. More -
African Burial Ground National Monument
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In May 1991, the General Services Administration unearthed the skeletal remains of nearly 400 individuals of predominantly African ancestry while preparing to erect a building in Lower Manhattan. The building was stopped, but these remains are on view in an interpretative center exploring the history of African-Americans in colonial New York. More -
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The center's arts calendar offers approximately 45 music and dance performances, six visual arts exhibits and six festivals yearly. Most programs are held in the spectacular Winter Garden. Summer events are held outside in a riverfront park. More -
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One of the city’s oldest public spaces, this 25-acre park at the tip of Manhattan and the confluence of the Hudson and East Rivers is the largest park in Lower Manhattan. Its name refers to the battery of cannons once placed here to protect New Amsterdam. More -
Castle Clinton National Monument
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Built just prior to the War of 1812, this fort has served as a concert venue, open-air restaurant, opera house and more recently as a monument to the history of Manhattan. It stands next to the ferry terminal to the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. More -
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Eleven Tears is memorial to the 11 American Express employees who died on September 11, 2001. It resides on the ground floor of the American Express Tower and is open to the public. More -
Federal Hall National Memorial
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Federal Hall has been the site of government activity for over 300 years. There are regular guided tours and the galleries mount exhibitions for all ages. More -
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The site of George Washington's emotional farewell to his officers at the end of the Revolutionary War, this reconstructed 18th-century building hosts varied exhibits on the early history of the United States. More -
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The Irish Hunger Memorial by artist Brian Tolle raises public awareness of the events that led to the Irish famine of 1845-52. It includes stones from Irish counties and plant life native to Ireland. More -
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An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum is the nation's only public museum dedicated to finance, entrepreneurship and the open market system. More -
Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
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The museum commemorates the murder of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis while honoring those who survived the Holocaust to rebuild their lives, begin families and create vibrant communities around the world. More -
National Museum of the American Indian—Smithsonian Institution
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The museum features year-round exhibitions, dance and music performances, children’s workshops, family and school programs, film festivals and video screenings that present the diversity of the Native peoples of the Americas and the strength of their cultures from the earliest times to the present. More -
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In addition to using exhibitions, the museum conveys the police department's history through lectures by working cops and detectives, online exhibitions, publications and events in the public schools. More -
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Founded in 1985 by the late U.S. poet laureate Stanley Kunitz and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray, Poets House is a 50,000-volume poetry library and meeting place that is free and open to the public. More -
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View the full festival schedule.
The festival takes place in Lower Manhattan each summer from June 22 to August 19, in public venues from Chambers Street down to the harbor and across the island from the Hudson River to the East River. More -
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An Episcopal church, St. Paul's Chapel was built in 1766 and is the oldest continuously used building in New York City. It holds the exhibit Unwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero, which chronicles the unique history of St. Paul's and its volunteer ministry in the weeks and months after September 11th. More -
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Located in the world's foremost vertical metropolis, the museum is dedicated to the study of tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of contruction, investments in real estate, places of work and residence and instances of aesthetic expression. More -
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The museum mounts exhibitions in six restored buildings, drawing on a collection of paintings, photographs, models and tools relating to shipbuilding, maritime history and the surrounding historic district. More -
Statue of Liberty National Monument
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The 300-foot-tall sculpture was designed by the French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi—with engineering assistance provided by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, designer of another famous monument. This gift of the French people in 1886 commemorates the spirit of liberty that so defines both America and France. More -
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Through walking tours, exhibitions and programs, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers "person to person history," linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate the historic events of September 11, 2001 with those who experienced them. More -
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Trinity Church was designed by Richard Upjohn and completed in 1846. It is a classic example of Gothic Revival architecture. Permanent exhibits in its museum trace church history from the 1600s to the present. More