Uptown along the row houses and apartment houses where Black New York built its addresses of achievement: the Powells' church, the 1890s rows of Strivers' Row, Hamilton's own country house, the brownstone streets of Hamilton Heights, and the Edgecombe Avenue buildings where Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Count Basie and Paul Robeson lived. It ends at a lane of 1880s wooden houses next to Manhattan's oldest house.
Best time: Wednesday-Sunday from about 10am, so Hamilton Grange (open Wed-Sun 10am-4pm) and the Morris-Jumel Mansion are open; on Sunday morning respect the services at Abyssinian
The route, stop by stop
- 1Abyssinian Baptist Church
132 West 138th St. Collegiate Gothic church built 1922-23 by Charles W. Bolton & Son. Adam Clayton Powell Sr. became pastor in 1908 and his son Adam Clayton Powell Jr., New York City's first Black congressman, in 1937. Look at the facade from across the street; join a service only as a respectful worshipper. 10 min.
- 2Strivers' Row (St. Nicholas Historic District)
West 138th and 139th Sts between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass Blvds, built 1891-93 by developer David H. King Jr. Compare the three sets: James Brown Lord's Georgian Revival (138th, south side), Bruce Price and Clarence Luce's Colonial Revival (138th north, 139th south) and Stanford White's Italian Renaissance (139th north). Peek into the shared rear alleys and find the old 'Walk Your Horses' signs. W.C. Handy, Fletcher Henderson and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson lived here. 25 min.
- 3Hamilton Grange National Memorial (St. Nicholas Park)
Alexander Hamilton's country house, moved into St. Nicholas Park at West 141st St. Free first-come tours of up to 14 people, Wednesday-Sunday 10am-4pm (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas). Climb the park stairs from St. Nicholas Ave to reach it. 30 min.
- 4Hamilton Heights Historic District (Hamilton Terrace and Convent Ave)
West 140th-145th Sts between St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Aves, landmarked 1974: 192 buildings from about 1886-1931, mostly three- and four-storey row houses behind raised stone terraces in Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts styles. Walk the curve of Hamilton Terrace, then Convent Ave past St. Luke's, Convent Avenue Baptist and St. James Presbyterian. 20 min.
- 5409 Edgecombe Avenue
Apartment house of 1916-17 at the top of Sugar Hill, the 'sweet life' Black enclave of the Harlem Renaissance. Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Du Bois and painter Aaron Douglas lived here. Look east across Jackie Robinson Park's cliff to the Bronx. 10 min.
- 6555 Edgecombe Avenue
At West 160th St. In the 1940s big-band leaders Count Basie, Andy Kirk, Don Redman, Erskine Hawkins, Benny Carter and Cootie Williams lived here, as did Paul Robeson. 5 min.
- 7Sylvan Terrace and the Morris-Jumel Mansion
Sylvan Terrace, the former carriage drive of the Roger Morris estate: twenty wooden houses by Gilbert R. Robinson Jr., built 1882-83 and restored 1979-81, among the few frame houses left in Manhattan. At its end is the Morris-Jumel Mansion of about 1765. The mansion is closed for roof work until autumn 2026 (morrisjumel.org); its park stays open. 20 min.
More walks in New York City
- Lower Manhattan: from the Battery to the Brooklyn Bridge
- Greenwich Village and the West Village: slices, jazz and side streets
- Lower East Side and Chinatown food walk
- Midtown icons: Grand Central to MoMA
- Museum Mile and Central Park's east side
- Jackson Heights and Elmhurst food crawl (Queens)
- Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn
- Brownstone Brooklyn: Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens
- Astoria: Little Egypt, a Czech beer garden, Hell Gate and Greek Ditmars
- Williamsburg to Greenpoint: sugar refinery, rail yard, WPA pool and Little Poland