10. It Might (But Probably Doesn’t) Belong to A Dutch Noblewoman

Starting in the 1780s, a number of descendants of a 17th century Dutchwoman, Anneke Jans Bogardus, claimed that Queen Anne, who granted the church’s land in 1705 after William III, had no right to grant it in the first place. In a series of lawsuits of the next few decades (all unsuccessful) Bogardus’ descendants attempted to prove that Bogardus still held original claim to the land because only five her six heirs ceded its ownership to the English crown. The case was revived once more in the 20th century but proved unsuccessful again.

Bogardus’s descendant, James, went on to design the Bogardus Building, stolen twice.