The oldest man-made structures still standing in New York City. Original 1755 British masonry — with fossilized oyster shells embedded in the stonework.

The literal birthplace of New York City. In 1624, the Dutch West India Company erected Fort Amsterdam here — the nucleus of New Amsterdam, the colony that became New York.

In 1776, Patriots tore down the gilded statue of King George III and melted it into 42,088 musket balls. The crown stumps sawed off the fence posts that night are still there.

On December 4, 1783, George Washington gathered his officers here for a farewell dinner. By all accounts, he wept openly. The Long Room where it happened is preserved inside.

The first paved street in all of New Amsterdam, laid by Dutch settlers around 1655. The footprint — the exact width, the exact angle — is unchanged from the 1600s.

In 1653, Stuyvesant ordered a wooden palisade wall built across Manhattan, constructed by enslaved Africans. Its footprint became Wall Street. Wooden inlays in the pavement still trace the line.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington stood on this balcony and took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. The Bible he swore upon is still inside.

Alexander Hamilton is buried here. So is his wife Eliza. The churchyard predates the church itself, with burials from the 1680s. The original church burned in the Great Fire of 1776.

Manhattan's oldest surviving church building. Washington prayed here immediately after his inauguration at Federal Hall. His pew is still marked inside. The same building. The same floor. 1766.

Beneath Lower Manhattan lie an estimated 10,000–20,000 enslaved and free African people buried here. They paved Stone Street. They built the wall on Wall Street. They built this city.