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Self-Guided Tour

In my travels, guidebooks have been of tremendous assistance. Guidebooks have lead to great restaurants, must-see attractions, and more than a few nice hotels. However, there have been some pieces of information that even the most complete guidebooks have not revealed. Though they may initially seem to be a negative, these omissions can add to the traveling experience. In some cases, it is not what you know, but what you discover that makes traveling a true adventure.

In even the largest of cities, there are still tiny, out of the way places to be found. Places that, without a keen or, perhaps, curious eye, one might otherwise miss. It is these places that often prove to be among the more memorable moments of any journey. For me, a great example of this is Manhattan’s Trinity Church. My first encounter with this Church came about entirely by accident. Wandering the crowded alleyways of the financial district, near the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, I noticed a number of tombstones surrounded by a wrought iron fence. I did not think much of this, until I began to notice the dates on the stones, the majority of which were from the middle to late eighteenth century. Detouring from my sightseeing, I found my way into the cemetery and spent more than one hour exploring the courtyard-sized plot of land.
Before long, I became curious about the unimposing brown brick structure located next to the graveyard. The sign at the entrance marked this structure as Trinity Church. Entering the Church, I found myself in a dimly lit sanctuary with several dozen pews leading up to a small altar. As I walked around the sanctuary, I could not help but notice the paradoxical quality of this place. The surrounding buildings hosted some of the most frenzied business dealings in the world. Yet, this small church, with its unassuming architecture and equally small, courtyard-style cemetery seemed to be a respite, of sorts. The only audible noise was that of a small choir rehearsing for an upcoming service

After my visit, curiosity got the better of me and I began to read about Trinity Church and its surprising place in Manhattan’s history. The Church, I learned, had been the onetime seat of the Church of England in New York. Trinity, in fact, had been the Anglican Church’s first home at New York’s founding. Continuing my research, I would learn that the small cemetery I had explored held a part of American history. Buried in one of its larger graves, among some of Manhattan’s earliest residents, was Alexander Hamilton, the Treasury Secretary under George Washington.

Traveler’s guidebooks can lead to many places. They can tell you the
do’s . . . and don’ts . . . of life in a different city. Yet guidebooks cannot tell you everything. Had I relied solely on a guidebook, I might have missed Trinity Church entirely. While I certainly was not the first traveler to find this tiny landmark, it was no less of a discovery for me.

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