Thomas Paine

New York, NY

The marble arch at the foot of Fifth Avenue was raised to mark the one hundredth anniversary of George Washington's 1789 inauguration as the first President of the United States — a ceremony held nearby when New York City served as the nation's first capital. A temporary wooden arch built for the 1889 centennial proved so beloved that this permanent monument was erected to replace it.

New York, NY

This statue honors the Marquis de Lafayette, the young French nobleman who crossed the Atlantic to fight for American independence and became one of the Revolution's most beloved allies. The monument was itself a gift from France to New York City, offered in gratitude for the sympathy Americans extended during France's ordeal in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The paired inscriptions bind two moments together: Lafayette's pledge of 1776 that his 'heart was enlisted' the instant he heard of American independence, and France's answering thanks nearly a century later.

New York, NY · est. 1914

On June 25, 1775, George Washington was entertained at the Hudson Street home of Leonard Lispenard while traveling from Philadelphia to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the newly formed Continental Army. The Sons of the American Revolution placed this tablet in 1914 (replaced in 1932) to mark the spot.

New York, NY

This preserved window comes from the Sugar House, a five-story sugar-refining warehouse built in 1763 near Duane and Rose Streets in lower Manhattan. During the Revolutionary War, British forces turned New York's sugar houses into overcrowded prisons where captured American patriots suffered terribly. Mounted as a relic, the window survives as a tangible fragment of that grim episode.