It's easy to get swept up in the national frenzy over the broadway musical Hamilton. The rap is revolutionary, the staging is enamoring and the story just leaves a tattered, patriotic pile of your heart. But the mark of a true fan lies in their itch to see more of Alexander Hamilton's stomping grounds in NYC than just the Richard Rogers Theater.
First, you can head downtown. Walk up Wall Street, past Federal Hall and the Stock Exchange, and you'll see it — a sliver peering through two towering, austere buildings — Trinity Church (queue the line "she's buried in Trinity Church near you").
The church is a relic, built in 1697, and the rest of the city has sort of stacked up around it. Surrounding the chapel itself is a stunning old churchyard where you'll stumble upon tombstones with names like Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton and Hercules Mulligan.
Next, head to the other end of Manhattan. What Angelica sings in the play really is true: it's quiet uptown. Nestled in Harlem on 141st Street lies the pale yellow, federal style "country house" of the Hamiltons. It's funny to think that back then, to escape the city you had only to scoot on up the island to be in a forest. Today, it's still a sunny little haven where birds endlessly chirp and small, 15-person tourist groups meander through the house.
Inside you'll find wonders like Hamilton's study where he dictated thoughts as Eliza furiously scribbled them down, the original piano their kids learned to play on, and a replica of the framed portrait of General Washington the Hamiltons hung in their dining room.
To end your tour, hop across the water to Weehawken Waterfront, New Jersey. When Aaron Burr talks in the musical about "rowing across the Hudson at dawn," this is where they were headed — the dueling grounds. It's a fantastic view of the skyline, and there's even a bust of Hamilton next to the rock he is said to have laid his head on to die after he was shot.
These historical sites offer a fascinating view into Hamilton's New York City — not as glitzy as it is now, but in a nostalgically, colonially, beautifully different way still "the greatest city in the world."