Historic sites get more visitors thanks to 'Hamilton' fans
NEW YORK (AP) — Historic sites connected to Alexander Hamilton are getting a lot more visitors than they used to, thanks to a little Broadway show you might have heard about.
Fans of the musical "Hamilton," which won 11 Tony Awards Sunday, are hunting down every Hamilton spot they can think of, from his home in Harlem, to his burial site in Lower Manhattan, to Hamilton Park in Weehawken, New Jersey, near the dueling grounds where he was shot by Aaron Burr.
Bearce is among thousands of "Hamilton" fans boosting visitor numbers at historic sites that in the past were barely on tourists' radars.
"Visitors also now leave flowers, stones, coins, notes, even a potted plant, at Hamilton's monument and on Eliza's stone just in front of it," said Trinity spokeswoman Lynn Goswick.
The Morris-Jumel Mansion is known for a dinner party hosted there by President George Washington for his cabinet, attended by Hamilton, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
(A different dinner party depicted in the show's song "The Room Where It Happens" took place at Jefferson's residence, now marked with a plaque at 57 Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan.) But the mansion has a Burr connection too:
Some destinations are advertising in the Broadway Playbill for "Hamilton," including the Caribbean island of Nevis, where Hamilton was born, and the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, where Hamilton founded the Bank of New York.
Events scheduled for July include the "Young Immigrant Hamilton Tour," July 7-8, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Hamilton attended prep school, and a July 7 talk about Hamilton as "Spymaster," focusing on his espionage work, at Fraunces Tavern in Lower Manhattan.