16. A 17th-Century African Burial Ground
In 1991, a construction project for a 34-story federal office tower began, and preliminary archaeological research excavation found intact human skeletal remains located 30 feet below the city’s street level. During survey work, they discovered a six-acre burial ground containing upwards of 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans who lived and worked in New York. It had burial dates ranging from the 1630s – 1795, making it the earliest and largest African burial ground rediscovered in the United States.
They turned the burial ground into a national monument with an interactive visitor center and outdoor memorial.