Trinity Church, New York, NY: Part 1

If walls could talk. Located in lower Manhattan near “Ground Zero” from September 11, 2001, Trinity Church has seen a lot of action.

Built in 1698 when Manhattan Island was still a rural countryside just beginning to burgeon into a small town, Trinity Church received its charter from King William III of England in 1697.

Trinity rented the land upon which it was built, in a contract supposedly from the descendants of a Dutch widow who had removed to Albany in Upstate New York after the death of her husband. The land has a history of contention. I own an old newspaper clipping from 1935 in which litigants sued Trinity Church for ownership of the land. According to what I have read (and there seem to be many versions out there, depending on who you ask!), the plot of farm land originally belonged to Anneke Jans, a wealthy widow who had emigrated to Manhattan Island from the Netherlands. When she died, she bequeathed the property to her children and grandchildren, who leased the land to Trinity. After a few centuries and numerous owners, Trinity Church considered the land theirs. Jans’ descendants sued Trinity several times over the years to acquire the rights to their property. Every time, New York courts sided with Trinity Church. I think the final lawsuit was the suit in that 1935 newspaper clipping. Imagine if the litigants had won– the land is worth millions!

Anyway, the first Trinity Church was a small, barn-shaped building. Legend has it that infamous pirate and church member Captain Billy Kidd loaned the builders his equipment to build the church. The building burned during the American Revolution, when fire raged through New York City.

After the war, a second church was built. President George Washington attended the inauguration service at nearby St. Paul’s Chapel (post and photos coming soon!) while the building was under construction. Unfortunately, the building was razed in 1839 when it became damaged by heavy snow. The current building — the third Trinity Church built here — was completed in 1846. At the time, Trinity was the highest point in New York. Today, the building is far overshadowed by the massive cityscape.

The church is a wonder. It’s open to visitors, but is still an active church with services held regularly. The grounds are lovely. People snacked on their midday meals under canopies or enormous trees. Many others, including us, perused the graveyard in search of familiar names.

We paid our respects to our beloved Alexander Hamilton and wife Eliza.

Hercules Mulligan was buried here. He was a spy during the American Revolution, a true hero. Read more

FFQF: The Hilarious John Adams

See what’s up with today’s FFQF at Meet the Founders blog

The theme for this month is Humor. This is going to be a fun one! Did you know that America’s founding fathers were quite the cut-ups? Indeed! They were not like the stodgy, stuffed-shirt, two-faced fuddy-duds that fill our halls of legislation today, nay!

John Adams and Alexander Hamilton stand out as some of the funniest guys. For this week, I want to quote two of John Adams’ statements. Adams was from humble parents in a humble little area of the coastal northeast, Braintree, Massachusetts. He was not of noble or wealthy heritage, not like the aristocrat Thomas Jefferson (with whom he compared himself) or like the European princes and nobles he mingled with when he served as ambassador for America. And Adams was quite aware of his “lowly” state in the affairs of men— but he could govern, think, and write better than most of them. And he was a master in the art of humorous self-deprecation. I’ve read a book of the letters he and his wife Abigail wrote to each other during his years away from home, and they are filled with wit and stunning wisdom– a really great read!

Here he is, mocking his elegant stature as king of the manure pile, at his humble farmhouse in rural Massachusetts (after having rubbed elbows with the dukes and nobles of Europe). This is to his younger son, John Quincy Adams:

“You may call me the monarch of Stoney Field, Count of Gull Island, Earl of Mount Ararat, Marquis of Candlewood Hill and Baron of Rocky Run.”

And here is Adams, sardonically jabbing at Jefferson’s noble mansion-building project, in a letter to Richard Rush, November 18, 1814:

“Mr. Jefferson lives at Monticello, the lofty mountain. I live at Montezillo, a little hill.”

HA! Those are just mere tidbits of the marvel of John Adams– that guy sure could tell a story and make point, and make you crack up at the same time. I hope to have more of funny John Adams in the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing what Hercules Mulligan at Meet the Founders has for today!