St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery – Stuyvesant's Wooden Leg

New York · United States · Church

Beneath the church floor lies Peter Stuyvesant, last governor of New Amsterdam – but since the 1600s his wooden leg has been heard stamping down the aisles, and the bells ring with no hand on the rope.

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery stands on the site of Peter Stuyvesant's private chapel of 1660 – and in the crypt below, the hot-tempered Dutch governor has lain buried since 1672. He ruled New Amsterdam with an iron hand and a silver-banded wooden leg, and never surrendered anything willingly: when the English took the colony, he refused to accept it to his dying day. Since the 18th century, parishioners have told of the unmistakable stamp of wood on stone in empty aisles, hymns sung in Dutch, and church bells ringing though no one touches the ropes – one account claims the bell tolled on its own the night his tomb was disturbed. The churchyard, holding vaults of the city's oldest families, ranks as Manhattan's most haunted consecrated ground.

FAQ

Where is St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery – Stuyvesant's Wooden Leg located?

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery – Stuyvesant's Wooden Leg is in New York, United States.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons