5 Best Sights in New York City, New York

Opened in 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the somber memorial occupies a large swath of the 16-acre World Trade Center complex, forming the Memorial Plaza (part of the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum). It comprises two recessed, 30-foot-tall waterfalls that occupy the giant, square footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Edging the memorial pools are bronze panels inscribed with the names of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks. Across the plaza are benches, grassy strips, and more than 400 swamp white oak trees harvested from within a 500-mile radius of the site, as well as from Pennsylvania and near Washington, D.C. The 9/11 Memorial is an open-access, free public plaza.

Along Liberty Street on the south side of the site is the elevated Liberty Park, home to Fritz Koenig's The Sphere, which for three decades stood on the plaza at the World Trade Center as a symbol of peace. Damaged in the 2001 attack, the sculpture was installed in the park in 2017. On the park's east end stands St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine ( stnicholaswtc.org), erected to replace the church that was destroyed on 9/11. Unlike an average church, this house of worship cost $85 million, took 21 years to design and construct, and among its splendid features, was built with white marble sourced from the same Greek quarry as the Parthenon's stone. Visitors are welcome daily (except Tuesday), 10--3; and on Sunday 9--2.

For a step back to various points in time on the Lower East Side, book one of the experiences that revolve around the partially restored 19th-century buildings that comprise the Tenement Museum. Options include apartment tours, neighborhood walks (including "Reclaiming Black Lives" introduced in 2021), and informative talks. At 97 Orchard Street, theme tours take you through the preserved apartments of several generations of immigrants who lived in the building. The "Hard Times" tour visits the homes of Natalie Gumpertz, a German–Jewish dressmaker (dating from 1878), and Adolph and Rosaria Baldizzi, Catholic immigrants from Sicily (1935). "Sweatshop Workers" visits the Levine family's garment shop–apartment and the home of the Rogarshevsky family from Eastern Europe (1918), while "Irish Outsiders" explores the life of the Moores, an Irish American family living in the building in 1869. Nearby, at 103 Orchard Street, the Under One Roof exhibition explores the lives of immigrant families from Poland, China, and Puerto Rico who lived in the building after World War II. All the tours fill up fast so it's best to sign up in advance.

Often overlooked due to its location amid downtown’s Civic-Center courthouses and high rises, this powerful, compact site is well worth a visit to learn about a lesser-known part of New York’s colonial history. The African Burial Ground National Monument commemorates what was once a 6-acre cemetery, discovered in 1991 when an archaeological study for a new development revealed more than 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans. Today, visitors can view the 24-foot-high Ancestral Chamber and the large Circle of the Diaspora, each made of stone from Africa and North America, adorned with African symbols, and designed with symbolic details that honor those who were laid to rest at the site. On the other side of the block, the visitor center features the “Reclaiming Our History” exhibit, details about the work and life of African people in early New York, and the 20th-century community success that preserved the burial ground. The memorial was proclaimed a national monument in 2006 in a ceremony presided over by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and poet Maya Angelou.  The visitor center is located at 290 Broadway and the Outdoor Monument is located on the corner of Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street).

It's a museum now, but this site has quite a notable claim: George Washington was sworn in here as the first president of the United States, in 1789, when the building was the Federal Hall of the new nation. (You can even view the bible Washington used to swear his oath.) The museum covers 400 years of New York City's history, with a focus on the life and times of what is now the city's Financial District. You can spot the building easily—it was modeled on the Parthenon, and a statue of George Washington is planted proudly on its (south-facing) stately steps.

Just across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center site, the “Ten House” firehouse is officially known as Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10. On the morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters on duty here were among the first to respond to New York’s terrorist attacks. The companies lost six heroes that day. The “Ten House Bravest Memorial” stands inside the firehouse to commemorate their ultimate sacrifice and that of other Ten House heroes. Around the corner on Greenwich Street, the 56-foot-long bronze bas-relief FDNY Memorial Wall serves as a tribute to 343 firefighters who perished on 9/11.