2 Best Sights in New York City, New York

One of the loveliest places for a stroll in the five boroughs, the 478 acres of Green-Wood Cemetery are also home to more than 560,000 permanent residents. Notables include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein, and Horace Greeley, but the elaborate monuments and mausoleums of the nonfamous tend to be more awe-inspiring. Equally impressive are the views that stretch to Brooklyn Harbor and Manhattan. Guided walking and trolley tours, as well as special events, are offered. Keep an eye out for parrots: the bright green monk parakeets have been nesting here since the 1960s when, legend has it, they escaped from a shipment at JFK airport.

The last Dutch director-general of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, ordered a church built at this site in 1654, making this one of the oldest places of worship in New York. The current Federal-style stone building, the third at this location, was completed in 1798 and features Tiffany stained-glass windows. The complex, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, also includes the 1853 Greek Revival and Italianate parsonage and the 1924 church house.