Yeah, so this place isn’t abandoned.
But we absolutely had to see Trinity Church, where Alexander Hamilton and several members of his family and friends are buried.
Trinity Church is located, of all places, in the financial district in Manhattan. It’s absolutely fascinating to see how the city grew all around it and now towers over the church grounds. It’s also the only patch of green for quite a ways in any direction. The church building itself was closed for renovations and asbestos abatement, but the cemetery, which reaches on either side of the church, was open.
Looking at these headstones was like looking directly inside Tim Burton’s head. The stones that are still there (a few may have gone amiss in the last 250 years…) are all remarkably preserved, and their Gothic scrawl, complete with spelling that’s more “artistic” than accurate, is incredibly beautiful. Not to mention the joy of seeing long-winded eulogies and admonishments to the living etched there, filling up an entire stone.
The churchyard includes several famous burials: Alexander Hamilton, of course, as well as his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and his eldest son, Philip; Hercules Mulligan, who served as a spy for the American side during the Revolution (and popularized by the musical Hamilton), and Eliza’s sister, Angelica Schuyler Church.
As we may have mentioned (once or twice) before, we’re big Hamilton fans, and being this close to the actual remains of these people whose stories we are so familiar with–albeit probably full of creative license, but well-researched by Lin-Manuel Miranda and faithfully portrayed to the best of his ability–was incredibly moving. Issa has pondered that this is why she has become involved in the Findagrave.com community–while these people in Trinity Church may be well-known and beloved by many people, everyone in every cemetery was once known and loved by someone, and it seems both fitting and necessary to make sure that their final resting places are documented and photographed for those of us still here who care.
Our final leg of this day before our Broadway show began was to stop by the 9/11 memorials. We quickly found that this was not something we could really stand to look at for very long. They are beautiful and touching, but wrought emotions out of us that we had carefully packed away from that day in our early 20s. We took it in for a minute, then left quickly with our sunglasses on, even though the day was overcast.
After our show, we caught the shuttle back to our motel, slept in a bit, and made our way home. The rainy weather, along with our desire to get home to our families, kept us from exploring too much on the way home, although Issa would have very much liked to visit Pithole, PA if it hadn’t been so out of the way. Maybe that’s a goal for next year!
Travels with Abandon 