★★★★★ 5.0
Discover
Trinity Church
That Gothic Revival spire towering above you once cast its shadow over 215 acres of Manhattan real estate - making Trinity Church one of New York's wealthiest landowners when Queen Anne permanently granted them the entire tract in 1705. You're standing where Captain William Kidd himself supposedly helped lift stones for the original 1698 church, which faced west toward the Hudson River before burning down in the Great Fire of 1776. Walk into the churchyard on your left and you'll find Alexander Hamilton's white pyramid tomb, but here's the mystery locals whisper about... his eldest son Philip is buried somewhere in these grounds too, killed in a duel three years before his famous father, yet his grave remains unmarked and lost to history. The current brownstone church is actually the third building on this site - Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, then Anglican - and when Trinity received its 1697 charter, it became the only official church parish in all of New York City.
Did You Know?
- Trinity Church was once the tallest building in the United States, with its 281-foot Gothic Revival steeple dominating the New York City skyline from 1846 until 1869, and it remained the tallest building in New York until 1890—long before the age of skyscrapers.
- President George Washington and members of his government regularly worshiped at the second Trinity Church (built in 1790), especially during the brief period when New York City served as the nation’s capital; Washington even attended the church’s consecration ceremony.
- Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Trinity Church on July 10, 1976, as part of a major U.S. tour, marking one of the most significant royal visits in the church’s long history and highlighting its enduring cultural importance.