An 1846 Gothic Revival Episcopal church at the head of Wall Street, the third Trinity on a site granted by King William III in 1697, with a churchyard holding Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton, Robert Fulton, and Albert Gallatin.
75 Broadway, New York, NY 10006
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; the church and churchyard are open to the public during posted hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved walks; some uneven historical paving
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1846 · Parish chartered 1697 by King William III · Third church on the site (current building 1846) · Gothic Revival design by Richard Upjohn · Burials of Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton, Gallatin, Fulton · National Historic Landmark
Trinity Church Wall Street is one of the oldest Anglican / Episcopal parishes in North America. Its congregation was founded in 1697 under a charter from King William III, who simultaneously granted the parish the corner of Broadway and Wall Street that the church has occupied ever since. The land has remained continuously in Trinity's hands and is the foundation of Trinity's substantial Manhattan real-estate endowment.
The current church building at 75 Broadway is the third Trinity. The first burned in the 1776 fire that destroyed much of Lower Manhattan; the second, built in 1790, was structurally compromised by heavy snow in the 1830s and razed. The present building, a Gothic Revival design by Richard Upjohn, was consecrated in 1846 and was for several decades among the tallest structures in New York City.
The adjacent Trinity Churchyard, at the head of Wall Street, contains 17th- and 18th-century burials and is the resting place of Alexander Hamilton, whose marble pyramid tomb is located near the southern fence along Rector Street. Eliza Schuyler Hamilton is buried in a simple vault stone beneath her husband's monument. Other notable burials include U.S. Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin and steamboat inventor Robert Fulton. The combined Trinity cemeteries (the Wall Street churchyard and Trinity Church Cemetery uptown at 155th Street) contain approximately 120,000 individuals across more than three centuries.
The churchyard is also the resting place of comedian Adam Allyn (d. 1768) — believed to be the first professional actor buried in North America — and several Revolutionary-era figures whose graves are among the oldest in Manhattan.
Sources
Coverage by Buried Secrets Podcast, the Association of Paranormal Study, and Atlas Obscura collects the recurring paranormal reports associated with Trinity Church and its churchyard. The most-cited reports describe an apparition of Alexander Hamilton, often described in Revolutionary War uniform, seen in and near the churchyard and along the southern fence where his pyramid tomb stands. The Association of Paranormal Study profile traces these reports back through twentieth-century accounts.
A second recurring claim describes Robert Fulton, whose grave also stands in the churchyard, wandering with a small model of his steamboat the Clermont. The Buried Secrets Podcast write-up additionally describes phantom laughter near the grave of Adam Allyn, who died in 1768 and is generally identified as the first professional actor buried in North America.
Atlas Obscura and Buried Secrets also note that a Trinity clergyman publicly described being asked to bless what he called reportedly-haunted offices in adjacent Financial District buildings — a story that has shaped some of the modern ghost-tour narration around the parish.
The paranormal reports are largely folkloric and multi-source, drawn from podcast features, paranormal blogs, and Atlas Obscura rather than from primary investigations.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided walk through Trinity Churchyard at the head of Wall Street, including Alexander Hamilton's marble pyramid tomb, Eliza Hamilton's vault stone, the Robert Fulton monument, and Albert Gallatin's grave.
Visit the 1846 Gothic Revival church (third building on the site, parish founded 1697) during posted hours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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