fraunces_tavern-george_washington-headquarters-financial_district-historic-nyc-copyFraunces Tavern, a major setting in Hamilton: An American Musical

With the launch of the film version of Hamilton today, we’ve updated our 2016 article on the New York City locations that appear in the hit Broadway musical. A few of the locations are mentioned explicitly in the show, but many are not. With help from New York City-based writer B.L. Barreras, who wrote the self-published book Where Was the Room Where It Happened? The Unofficial Hamilton: An American Musical Location Guidethis guide offers expanded information on locations included in Hamilton.

In the book, Barreras breaks down the type of locations into places that were the setting for scenes, places mentioned in lyrics, places that were the location for events in the show, but may have been shown differently. Barreras also acknowledges that Lin-Manuel Miranda had to take some liberties due to the constraints of set making and show flow on a physical stage and that the book is not intended to point out such differences.

The book is divided into six chapters: locations in New York City, other locations of note connected to Alexander Hamilton in the city, Hamilton-related things to do in the city, Hamilton locations in New Jersey, Hamilton locations elsewhere (like Philadelphia, Albany, Yorktown, even England), and suggested itineraries to take it all in. For Aaron Burr fans, there’s an itinerary devoted just to him.

Barreras has kindly provided us with the highlights of the Hamilton locations from his book, which we’ve excerpted. So without further ado, here are 10 notable locations from the musical!

1. Hamilton Grange

Hamilton Grange

The Hamiltons were living on the property where the Grange was to be located when Philip Hamilton was killed in his duel (although the Grange itself was still under construction at the time). Alexander Hamilton speaks with Philip before his duel in “Blow Us All Away,” and Hamilton and Eliza would have taken solace there as sung in “It’s Quiet Uptown.” Eliza would have been at the Grange the morning of Hamilton’s duel with Aaron Burr and would have spoken to him there in “Best of Wives and Best of Women.” Eliza lived at the Grange for a time after Hamilton’s death while she started working on telling his story in “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.”

Fun fact: The Hamilton Grange was actually moved twice, most recently from 2006 to 2011 to this spot in St. Nicholas Park.In non -pandemic times, Hamilton Grange is operated by the National Park Service. Untapped New York Insiders were treated to ranger-led tours several times in the last few years, and we’re looking forward to going back. The rangers told us that the number of visitors to the Grange skyrocketed since the debut of Hamilton on Broadway.

The context of numerous songs indicate that a portion of the dialogue would have taken place in the residences of Alexander Hamilton, of which additional locations in New York City include 26 Broadway, across from Charging Bull, 57-58 Wall Street and 54 Cedar Street. None of the original buildings still stand and there are no plaques at these locations relating to Hamilton.