Trinity

This is a picture of Trinity Church at the intersection of Wall Street & Broadway. You can't see the church itself much at all (it's hiding behind the trees on the right), but it was a beautiful day today when I was there and I felt I had to get a shot, which turned out even better than I'd hoped. The cemetary you see here is in the churchyard on the northern side of the building; some of the gravestones go back to the 1600's and the Dutch settlers who first settled Manhattan Island. (New York's original name was actually New Amsterdam.)
It is somehow interesting to me that this famous church has remained here while the temples of capitalism grew up around it. The churchyard is entirely surrounded by financial institutions on every side, in the heart of the bustle of the city. And yet somehow, there remains a peace and tranquility to it once one steps inside the gates.
A few other fun facts about the church: The church that is here now is actually the third 'Trinity Church'. The first one burned down in a fire just before the start of the Revolutionary War; the blaze spread from another nearby building and wasn't contained quickly enough because all the firefighters had followed George Washington to fight the war just days prior. The second church was torn down after being weakened by heavy snows during the winters of 1838-1839. Columbia University, which was originally called King's College, held its first classes here before moving to the campus in Morningside Heights where it is now. Alexander Hamilton, who dropped out of Columbia to 'go do more important things, like help run the country', is buried here. And at the time the church was chatered by the King of England, the official rent was one peppercorn per annum, payable to the English crown. When Queen Elizabeth II visited the church in 1976, she was paid an honorary 'back rent' of 279 peppercorns.