The Battery: NYC origins from Bowling Green Park to Stone Street

From a humble dirt-walled fort and trading outpost protected by artillery batteries, to the center of one of the most powerful cities on earth, The Battery is where it all began for New York. This small park, once a parade ground and marketplace for early Dutch settlers, is now crammed with fascinating monuments at every turn. On this walking tour, I’ll show you around and share a few amazing stories, like how one of today’s most valuable islands, Manhattan, was bought for a handful of beads.

On this 90-minute walk, you’ll find out how The Battery came to be, and why New York was named after a Duke who never even set foot in the city. You’ll also hear tales of real-estate swaps and revolutionary protests. Our route begins in Bowling Green Park at the bottom of Broadway and weaves through many of The Battery’s sites, including the 19th century fort, the virtually unchanged Castle Clinton, and the magical SeaGlass Carousel. It comes to an end in front of the cobbled stretch of Stone Street that many lifelong New Yorkers never discover.

Along the way, you can look forward to:

• Unraveling the secrets of the Statue of Liberty, like how she almost ended up in some other harbor
• Reliving the experience of Annie Moore, the first immigrant to disembark at Ellis Island’s inspection station
• Marveling at how the first Jews, on their way back to the Netherlands, accidentally ended up in NYC as ransomed captives
• Unearthing the many iterations of Castle Clinton, named after NYC’s most powerful Clinton (neither Bill nor Hillary)
• Seeing where George Washington bid his officers farewell through his tears
• Experiencing the biggest non-nuclear explosion instigated by two German spies that almost no one knows about today
• Meeting the real-life inspiration for Elsa from Frozen, opera-singer Jenny Lind who enchanted Europe and America with her voice
• Decoding the symbolism hidden in sculptures at the Customs House
• Learning the celestial secret of the Korean War memorial

Come along as we bring the sights and stories of The Battery to life, with the help of actors, music and sound effects, and see New York like never before.

CREDITS: The additional voices recite actual quotes, performed by actors. And, by actors we mean our dear friends who work for beer & wine: Tom Eich, Mattie Goldberg, Clayton Hemmert, Clara Marshall, Penny and Thomas O'Brien, Paul Safsel, Bob Tracy, Lisa Wagner, Josh Wallach, John Williams, Sofia Williams.