Lower Manhattan has its roots as a tiny Dutch settlement at the very
southern tip of Manhattan Island. The city slowly expanded, and as the
city limits pushed northward, so too did the concept of downtown.
Today's lower Manhattan includes such landmarks as the Freedom Tower,
Trinity Church, South Street Seaport, and Fraunces Tavern, as well as
neighborhoods such as Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, and TriBeCa. The
Wall Street area, the heart of lower Manhattan, has changed the most
over the last 200 years, while in Greenwich Village you can still find
many original early nineteenth century residences. Lower Manhattan is a
truly vibrant place, bustling with commerce and crowded with tourists,
yet it is also home to many thousands of New Yorkers. It is both modern
and old fashioned, stately and quirky at the same time. From the
country's tallest skyscraper to streets with the feel of a small
European village, lower Manhattan is New York City at its best and most
fascinatingly diverse, offering a wide array of shopping, restaurants,
and historic sites.