Death in New York

Experience the comprehensive New York history of death, burial, epidemics, and execution on this epic 2.¾ hour tour (based on the book Death in New York) through Battery Park, the Financial District, Tribeca, the Civic Center, and Chinatown!

Main Features

  • Peer at the Lenape burial, capital punishment, and prisoner of war islands of New York Harbor from Battery Park

  • Discover the controversy surrounding museum death acquisitions and exhibits at the National Museum of the American Indian

  • Unearth the history of epidemics and burial prohibitions at Trinity Church

  • See the cenotaphs of Irish war heroes and political activists at St. Paul’s Chapel

  • Learn about the first NYC Catholic burial ground and the ensuing riot at St. Peter’s Church

  • Visit the location of some of Manhattan’s historic prisons, executions, excavated dead, and President Lincoln’s New York funeral procession at City Hall Park

  • Observe the site of body-snatching and rioting at the African Burial Ground

  • Inspect the death toll stats of past and present jails in the Civic Center

  • Survey an ever-evolving neighborhood on a funeral industry street in Chinatown

  • Pay a visit to the oldest existing Jewish graveyard in North America in the area of Two Bridges

Meeting point: Outside the doors of Manhattan's Whitehall Ferry Terminal (for the Staten Island ferry) at 4 Whitehall Street, New York, NY 10004 (under the word “STATEN” in the “STATEN ISLAND FERRY” SIGN above the entrance).

Tour length: 2.¾ hours

Distance covered: 2.5 miles

Meeting point: Manhattan's Whitehall Ferry Terminal (for the Staten Island ferry)

“A fabulous tour with astounding stories on first settlers, slaves, catholics and jews, walking and passing sites that got a whole new meaning now! An accomplished and engaged guide with great knowledge, fascinating to listen to her!”

Regula Bubb-Abderhalden (Google) 5*

“This is a fantastic tour!! The tour is based on original research that K. Krombie has done for her book which I plan to buy. She has planned an extremely informative, amusing and surprising series of stops on a walking tour around lower Manhattan. I am a New Yorker born and raised in the West Village and we went places and saw things that I had never known existed much less visited. She knows her subject absolutely and presents it with enthusiasm and charm. She also knows plenty of other things that she has discovered in her adventures and researches around the city. I was constantly amazed to learn about events and places I have walked by a thousand times. I recommend her tour to anyone. It is very, very good and well worthwhile.”

Elizabeth T (TripAdvisor) 5*

I have attended two Purefinder Tours -- Psychiatry in New York, and more recently, Death in New York. Both are exceptional and about the best tours I've experienced in this fascinating city. Krombie's tours are well planned and loaded with information, clearly and enthusiastically presented. But there is so much more. She reveals connections and context that make the facts meaningful and memorable. Few tours and guides accomplish that. Walking tours in New York City are a great way to appreciate and enjoy this special place, and the Purefinder tours do it best.

Paula Moraes (Yelp) 5*