May 20, 2026
The Holland Society had a wonderful walking tour led by Joyce Gold. The tour included highlights such as St. Mark’s-in-the-Bowery Church, where the tour saw the burial site of Peter Stuyvesant, the preserved Native American statues, and the history of the restoration of the stained glass windows after the devastating fire in 1978. It was the ideal place to start the tour, as before it became St. Mark’s Church, it was Peter Stuyvesant’s family chapel. Following, the tour walked along Stuyvesant Street, the only street in the East Village that directly points due west, to see where members of the Stuyvesant family lived. As the area is rich with a diverse history, Joyce spoke outside of Cooper Union for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences about the educational institution’s founding and contributions to the America we know today. Joyce gave further color to the area’s past with a stop inside McSorley’s Old Ale House, which is New York City’s oldest continuously operated saloon. The tour also included stories of the different immigrant communities and historic events that impacted members of the community, like the General Slocum Disaster. The time together concluded at the Stuyvesant’s Pear Tree Corner, a spot especially meaningful to the Holland Society.
