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Manhattan

Financial District

New Amsterdam's crooked streets, the tavern where Washington said goodbye, and a cobbled block of beer halls.

The Financial District is the oldest part of New York, and the street plan still shows it. Below Wall Street — named for the Dutch wall that once marked the town's northern edge — the lanes bend and narrow the way they did in New Amsterdam, and the towers rise straight out of them. On a Sunday morning, with the trading floors empty, it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Stone Street was the first paved street in the Dutch town, cobbled in 1658 by residents who paid for it themselves. Its low Greek Revival buildings went up after the Great Fire of 1835, and the eastern block is now a pedestrian run of taverns and beer halls with picnic tables set out in the street in warm weather. Around the corner on Pearl Street, Fraunces Tavern stands where George Washington said farewell to his officers in December 1783.

Eat at the old places — the tavern, the steakhouse that put its name on a cut of beef, the Irish bar on Water Street that won the world's best-bar titles a decade ago — and then walk east to the Seaport's cobbles or south to the Battery, where the harbor opens up.

Cobbled Stone Street with tables in the road on summer evenings

Fraunces Tavern's brick front at Pearl and Broad

Towers rising out of streets laid out by the Dutch

The harbor at the Battery and the Seaport a short walk east

Local notes

Stone Street Historic District

Designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1996. The eastern block, between Coenties Alley and Hanover Square, closes to cars in summer and becomes one long outdoor dining room. Weekday evenings after the markets close are the liveliest.

Fraunces Tavern Museum

The upper floors of Fraunces Tavern have been a museum of the Revolutionary era since 1907, run by the Sons of the Revolution, who restored the building. The Long Room, where Washington took his leave of his officers on December 4, 1783, is the centerpiece. The bar and restaurant are downstairs.

Golden Mall, downtown

Flushing's famous Chinese food-court name now has a Manhattan outpost on the ground floor of an old building at 47 Broadway near Trinity Church: hand-pulled noodles, roast duck and dumplings, with seating — a rarity at a Wall Street lunch.

Through the lens

Stone Street is a dusk shot: string lights, cobbles and the tavern windows, with the towers of Hanover Square behind. Fraunces Tavern's brick facade reads best from the corner of Pearl and Broad in morning light. On weekends the canyons of Wall and Broad Streets are empty enough to frame properly.

Editorial draft — core details last reviewed October 13, 2026. Confirm practical details with the official site before you go.

Where to eat & drink