Walk Through the Revolution: Explore Village Preservation’s New Revolutionary War StoryMap
Imagine standing in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1776. Instead of rows of brownstones, apartment buildings, and busy sidewalks, you would find rolling farmland, country estates, orchards, and dirt roads stretching north from the bustling colonial city. Soldiers marched through these fields. General George Washington established his headquarters here as he prepared to defend New York against the British. Neighbors chose sides in a conflict that would forever change the course of history.
As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its founding, Village Preservation invites you to step back into that world with our new Revolutionary War StoryMap, an interactive resource exploring the many connections between Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo and the fight for American independence.
When most people think about the Revolutionary War, they picture Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, or Yorktown. Few realize that the fight for American independence also unfolded right here in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.
In 1776, as British forces prepared to seize New York, George Washington established his headquarters at Richmond Hill, a country estate that was located near the intersection of Varick and Charlton Streets at the border of today’s Hudson Square neighborhood and the Charlton-King-VanDam Historic District. At the time, the area lay just beyond the city’s settled boundaries, with farms, streams, orchards, and country estates stretching north from Lower Manhattan. From here, Washington planned the defense of New York as the Continental Army prepared for one of the most consequential campaigns of the Revolutionary War.
The Revolution also played out in the lives of the people who called these neighborhoods home. Prominent colonial families found themselves divided by their loyalties, with some supporting independence and others remaining faithful to the British Crown. Many of the nation’s Founding Fathers had connections to these neighborhoods, including John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and Thomas Paine. Their ideas, alliances, and rivalries helped define both the Revolution and the country that emerged from it.
Village Preservation’s new StoryMap brings these stories together through historic maps, images, and carefully researched narratives. Explore the locations of Washington’s headquarters, country estates that witnessed the conflict, roads traveled by soldiers, and sites connected to the political leaders who shaped the Revolution. Along the way, you’ll discover how reminders of this extraordinary chapter in American history still exist throughout Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.
The StoryMap is part of Village Preservation’s yearlong Revolutionary Village initiative, which commemorates the nation’s semiquincentennial by exploring not only the Revolutionary War, but also the many political, social, artistic, and cultural revolutions that have taken place in these neighborhoods over the last 250 years. Time and again, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo have served as places where new ideas challenged old assumptions and helped move the nation forward.
Whether you are planning a neighborhood walk, researching local history, or simply curious about the places you pass every day, the Revolutionary War StoryMap offers a new way to experience the streets around you. The history of America’s founding is not confined to distant battlefields. It is woven into the neighborhoods Village Preservation has worked for decades to protect.
As we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, we invite you to explore the Revolutionary War StoryMap and discover how the fight for independence unfolded right here at home, and how the memory of it lives on in the streets and buildings around us.