40 free attractions in New York City
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1. African Burial Ground
One of Lower Manhattans most fascinating, and controversial, stories of recent years circulates around the new African Burial Ground National Monument site. It began when a construction project in 1991 uncovered a burial ground of slaves more than 400 caskets were found from an age when New York had more slaves than any American city outside Charleston, South Carolina. Outside you can see part of the site now enveloped by buildings, and the compact visitors center does a masterful job at retelling African-American history in the city. See our 76-Second Travel Show episode on the museums opening. 290 Broadway between Duane & Elk Sts, Lower Manhattan.
2. Brooklyn Brewery tours
Free Saturday tours of Williamsburgs Brooklyn Brewery run half an hour from 1-4pm. 79 N 11th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
3. Central Park
Its filled with free events, statues, people-watching and sites like Strawberry Fields, an Imagine mosaic near the Dakota, where John Lennon was killed in 1980. Another site is the Pond, at the southeastern corner, where Holden Caulfield kept turning to in The Catcher in the Rye, wondering where those ducks go when its cold. (For the answer, watch this video.) Uptown.
4. Chelsea galleries
New Yorks most concentrated area for a gallery crawl is in Chelsea, mostly in the 20s Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues. Check Gallery Guide or westchelseaarts.com for listings. All are free, no pressure to buy. And try timing for wine-and-cheese openings on Thursday evenings.
5. City Hall
Home to New York Citys government since 1812, City Hall tours take in its cupola-topped marble hall, the governors room as well as the spot where Abraham Lincolns coffin lay in state briefly in 1865. Tours must be reserved in advance. City Hall Park, facing the Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan.
6. Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Museum
Its always Fashion Week in the FIT Museum, which features rotating exhibits by students and a surprisingly interesting and detailed collection of the countrys first gallery of fashion, picked from a collection of 50,000 garments dating from the 18th century to present. Seventh Ave & 27th St, Garment District, Midtown West.
7. Federal Hall
Two presidents were inaugurated in New York City, beginning with the first Dubya, George Washington, who took the oath in Federal Hall in 1789, back when New York was the first capital. (Chester A Arthur was the second.) Theres a nice statue outside, overlooking the New York Stock Exchange across Wall Street, and a small, recently renovated museum on post-colonial New York inside. 26 Wall St, Lower Manhattan.
8. Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Reserve at least a week ahead (sometimes a month!) to visit the Federal Reserve Bank, most rewarding just to ogle the facilitys high-security vault useful considering more than 10,000 tons of gold reserves reside here, 80ft below ground. Theres also exhibits on counterfeit currency as well as a serious coin collection of the American Numismatic Society. A tours the only way to get in. 33 Liberty St, Lower Manhattan.
9. Forbes Collection
The lobby galleries of Forbes magazine have some various curios from the late Malcolm Forbes collection, most notably early versions of Monopoly boards. (Or watch our tour of Monopoly sites around the properties namesakes at Atlantic City, New Jersey.) 62 Fifth Ave at 12th St, Greenwich Village.
10. General Ulysses S Grant National Memorial (aka Grants Tomb)
Also called Grants Tomb, the $600,000 granite structure that holds the remains of the Civil War hero and 18th president (and his wife Julia) is the largest mausoleum in the US, and is patterned after Mausolus tomb at Halicarnassus, making it a plagiarized version of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Riverside Dr at 122nd St, Morningside Heights.
11. Governors Island
The ferry to Governors Island is free, as is access to the 172-acre island which opened to the public only in 2003. Theres a 2.2-mile bike path, mini golf, a picnic area, plus military sites such as Admirals House and a ghost town of sorts at Nolan Park. Ferries leave from Battery Maritime Bldg, Slip 7, Lower Manhattan.
12. Grand Central Partnership Walking Tours
Two historians lead free 90-minute walking tours at 12:30pm every Friday, hitting places like Grand Central Terminals whispering gallery and the Chrysler Building. 120 Park Ave, at 42nd St, Midtown East.
13. Green-Wood Cemetery
Once the nations most visited tourist attraction outside Niagara Falls, the gorgeous Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 and is the eternal home to some 600,000 people (or about 530 miles of bodies, head to toe). Its leafy and lovely, features Brooklyns highest point at Battle Hill, a site from the Revolutionary War, now marked with a seven-foot statue of the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva. Watch for the squawking green parakeets at the cemeterys Gothic entry these are runaways from a JFK mishap in 1980 and have lived here since. 500 25th St, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
14. Hamilton Grange
You know youre important when you get a grange. This one, Hamilton Grange, to reopen in 2011 after renovation, is the Federal-style country retreat where Alexander Hamilton spent quieter, pre-death-by-duel New York days. St Nicholas Park at 141st St, Hamilton Heights.
15. High Line
Its a park, so it should be free, but the expanding High Line project has the impact and feel of an real-live attraction, complete with its own opening hours. Created from an abandoned stretch of elevated railroad track, the native-inspired landscaping of this park 30 feet in the air connects the Meatpacking District with Chelseas galleries (another great free institution). Theres wonderful Hudson River views, or of pedestrians on the sidewalks below. Watch for public-art installations and events. Gansevoort Street to 20th St (currently), between 9th & 11th Aves, Chelsea.
16. Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library
The largest collection of Spanish art outside Spain fills the ornate Beaux Arts space of the Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library on the serene Audobon Terrace in far north Manhattan. Broadway & 155th St, Washington Heights.
17. Japan Society
The films and lectures usually involve a ticket, but the gallery exhibits at the Japan Society (focusing on Japanese art) are always free. 333 E 47 St, between First & Second Aves, Midtown East.
18. National Museum of the American Indian
This Smithsonian ex-pat, just off the historic Bowling Green and Battery Park, is neighbors to frenetic commuters and tourists heading to the Statue of Liberty but often gets missed. Situation in the spectacular former US Customs House (1907), the National Museum of the American Indian is actually one of the countrys finest collections of Native American art. The focus is on culture, not history, and does so with many of its million-plus items. Theres also many programs. 1 Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan.
19. New York Earth Room
Now for something completely different: the Earth Room, Walter De Marias 1977 art installation, a single room filled with 280,000 pounds of dirt, combines the framework of an ordinary office with the scent of a wet forest. 141 Wooster St, SoHo
20. New York Public Library
Remember the Dewey Decimal System? The New York Public Library, New Yorks most famous library (aka the Stephen A Schwarzman Building), which turns 100 in 2011, is situated in a grand Beaux Arts icon east of Times Square. Its fronted by marble lions named Patience and Fortitude, and is just a jaw-dropper to walk through, particularly the reading room fit for 500 patrons reading with the aid of the librarys original Carre-and-Hastings lamps. Theres exhibits too, including a copy of the original Declaration of Independence, a Gutenburg Bible, plus 431,000 old maps. There are free tours at 11am and 2pm Monday to Saturday, 2pm Sunday. Fifth Ave at 42nd St, Midtown East.
