In anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary celebrations, the Downtown Alliance has teamed up with the City University’s Gotham Center for New York City History to produce a guide to the NYC Revolutionary Trail. This is my kind of way to entertain folks from out of town for a good chunk of time (this tour takes around 90 minutes).

The guide details 16 sites central to the American Revolution in a self-guided walking tour through Fidi and the Seaport circa 1763 to 1789. The landmarks include Trinity Church, Fraunces Tavern and Federal Hall, as well as sites of significance that no longer exist such as Fort George and Golden Hill.

The guide exists as a PDF, which you can print and follow, or pick one up at the kiosk at Bowling Green. And the Gotham Center is developing a free app called Echoes of Revolution: NYC that provides 75 minutes of audio narration as well as character profiles, videos and text. It will launch this month. The app puts you in the world of Assassin’s Creed® III, which my son tells me is designed for kids and known for its historical and urban geographic accuracy.

The Alliance and the Gotham Center have also developed “Revolutionary Reflections,” a collection of 12 collages depicting the characters and events that shaped Lower Manhattan’s role in the American Revolution displayed on vacant storefront windows until Labor Day. Those are on the map below.