NYC has a long history with US Presidents and also First Ladies.
This Fourth of July Weekend is a good time to be reminded of NYC presidential history and consider visiting one of the official NYC places connected to US Presidents and First Ladies.
Those include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Teddy Roosevelt, the first US president born in NYC, and First Ladies Jackie Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Several of these sites are operated by the National Park Service, and Park Rangers offer tours and there are regular historic reenactments of important events.
There also are NYC transportation hubs named for presidents, including an airport, a highway, an areal tram and a tunnel, which millions of local and international travelers use.
Here is our list. How many NYC locations related to US presidents have you visited or traveled through?
Federal Hall National Monument
George Washington took the oath of office on this spot on Wall Street, to become the first US President.
It’s easy to find – just look for his larger-than-life bronze statue guarding the front steps.
There’s a wonderful museum inside, with exhibits about New York City and our role in the early history of the USA, including as the first US capitol city, before that moved to Philadelphia and then to Washington, DC.
Related article –
George Washington’s New York City
including where he worshiped and ate.
Morris- Jumel Mansion
This is the oldest surviving private dwelling in Manhattan, built in 1765 by a British officer as a country getaway, when this part of Upper Manhattan was still farmland.
George Washington camped out here briefly, using the house at his headquarters during the Revolutionary War after the British Loyalist owner skipped town.
Washington used the mansion again a few years later for the very first presidential cabinet meeting, which included both Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and lifelong rival Aaron Burr.
There are regular events here, including paranormal events, because the place is said to be haunted by the ghost of Eliza Jumel, who married Burr in the front parlor just days before he shot Hamilton in that famous duel.
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote much of his blockbuster musical, Hamilton, here, inspired by its history.
Related article
Where to see Hamilton in New York City
including his home and burial site
Fraunces Tavern
Dating from 1719, this is where the rebel Sons of Liberty met to plot how to gain independence from the British, and also where General Washington bade farewell to his Revolutionary War officers, just before taking the presidential oath a few blocks away.
Fraunces Tavern still is a place to eat and drink. There’s a Colonial-style menu downstairs and a small museum upstairs.
Visit the permanent exhibition entitled The Birch Trials at Fraunces Tavern, which highlights the the tavern played in the emancipation of thousands of Black Loyalists at the end of the Revolutionary War (enabling them to leave New York City) and in the creation of the Book of Negroes (the record created of those who departed with the British).
Recognition is also given to the thousands of Black Patriots who fought to further the cause of American Independence.
Related article
NYC Revolutionary Era homes now museums
Grant’s Tomb
He’s not just the man whose face is on the $50 bill. Ulysses S. Grant was a Civil War general before he was elected President.
Grant and his wife are buried in the largest mausoleum in the United States, which overlooks the Hudson River in Manhattan, near where they lived after leaving the White House.
There is a small museum inside, including displays of Grant’s close association with Abraham Lincoln during he Civil War, which many Southerners still call the War of Northern Aggression.
- National Park Service direct link to what is known officially as the General Grant National Monument.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace
Teddy Roosevelt was the first US President born in New York City (Donald J. Trump is the second).
Roosevelt’s childhood home is in what is now called the Flatiron District is a National Historic Site.
Roosevelt served as NYC Police Commissioner before moving into politics.
If you are a fan of the TV series “Blue Bloods” (as I am), you’ll notice a photo of him as Commissioner in the office of the TV commissioner, portrayed by Tom Selleck.
A well-known outdoor enthusiast, including big game hunting, Roosevelt founded the national park system, saving millions of acres of land for public use.
National Park Service direct link to the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site.
He was also a devoted conservationist, and was one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History, where there is a the wing named for him.
The family’s summer estate, Sagamore Hill on Long Island, became the Summer White House. It is also a National Park Service site.
Link to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
FDR Four Freedoms State Park
Called the Four Freedoms Park, this space honoring Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, overlooking the United Nations and lower Manhattan across the East River.
The park opened officially in 2012. It takes its name from one of his most famous speeches – the president’s 1941 State of the Union address, in which he expressed his belief in the universal rights of freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
The entire speech is engraved on marble plaques. Well worth reading. And the views across the East River to Manhattan are worth seeing, too.
Four Freedoms State Park is on Roosevelt Island. Take the famous Roosevelt Island aerial tram for another bird’s eye view of my hometown.
First Ladies in NYC
There is also a New York City Park named for former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt,
The Central Park Reservoir is named for former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, whose Fifth Avenue apartment overlooked the view she loved.
Related article
NYC Parks Named for Women
And, of course, many New Yorkers and visitors fly in and out of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Many travel to or from the airport via the FDR, the highway that runs along the East River in Manhattan, from the Battery to East Harlem, when its name changes to the East River Drive.
The Roosevelt Island Tram travels between the Upper East Side and Rosevelt Island.
Many New Yorkers and visitors travel between NYC and New Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel, named for Abraham Lincoln.
For Memorial Day, July 4th and Veterans Day, we publish a similar round-up of the top war memorials in New York City, where you can honor the service men and women who served their presidents proudly.
Note that we are not including Trump Tower, which is purely commercial structure, part of the family real estate business, with shops on the lower floors and luxury apartments above, including the sprawling, gilded family triplex penthouse, or any of the other Trump-branded commercial buildings in New York City, because these are not historical presidential sites.
The house in Queens where he was born and grew up is a private home, and currently abandoned by the current owner who tried unsuccessfully to turn it into an Airbnb. It is a neighborhood eyesore, over-run by feral cats being fed by neighbors.
Here are links to recent news articles about Trump’s abandoned childhood home and its effect on its neighbors and neighborhood.
- https://nypost.com/2024/11/01/us-news/donald-trumps-childhood-home-in-queens-is-overrun-by-feral-cats-infuriating-neighbors/
- https://ny1.com/nyc/queens/news/2021/01/19/trump-queens-childhood-home-on-the-market-again
- https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-childhood-home-is-overrun-with-feral-cats/
The house sold in March 2025 for less than half its value, to an LLC. The NYPost reported it is being gutted, but there is no information about what the buyer intends to do with the property.
- https://nypost.com/2025/03/27/business/president-trumps-childhood-home-in-nyc-sells-at-steep-discount/
This article was posted originally in Feb. 2016 on my former website, NYC on the Cheap, which was hacked, ransomed and destroyed by the hackers in 2022. Some links are to the archived report.
It has been updated and republished here annually, including for 2025.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 25+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President Emeritus of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA).
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter also is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Assn. (NATJA) and the North American Snowsports Journalists Assn. (NASJA).
Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.
Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter
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