New York catacombs tour review

The New York catacombs by candlelight tour takes in the history of the Five Points gangs, NYC immigration waves and the catacombs under the Basilica of St Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

This review of the New York catacombs tour is part of a special New York City collection created to celebrate the new direct flights from Sydney to New York. To find many more great things to do in New York City, head this way.

New York catacombs tour cost

At the time of writing, the New York catacombs tour costs from $37. To skip the review and just book your mobile-friendly tour ticket, head here.

Review of the New York catacombs by candlelight tour

Sometimes, the most enjoyable moments in travel are when what you’re expecting turns out to be something else. Granted, these can often be the least enjoyable moments in travel, too. But when serendipity strikes in your favour, it’s really quite wonderful.

What had sounded interesting about the tour was the chance to wander through the catacombs of the Basilica of St Patrick’s Old Cathedral. I mean, who knew there were catacombs to wander around in Manhattan, right?

Which New York City experiences to book

There are hundreds of great experiences in New York City. But we’d strongly advise against bus tours (unless you like sitting in traffic for hours). Try these instead.

Boat tours: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island | Sunset and city lights cruise | Complete round-Manhattan island cruise.
Get up high: Top of the Rock | Edge Observation Deck | Summit One Vanderbilt | Manhattan helicopter tour | One World Observatory | Empire State Building.
Museum entry tickets: 9/11 Memorial Museum | The Guggenheim | Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum | American Museum of Natural History.
Food tours: Chelsea Market and High Line | Lower East Side | Chinatown and Little Italy.
Central Park: Central Park carriage ride | Pedicab tour | Central Park Zoo.
Multiple attraction savings: New York CityPass.

The catacombs under Manhattan

And, as it turns out, the catacombs are moderately interesting. They’re not the ancient, dusty, spooky things that the word “catacombs” might evoke – more subterranean corridors. Included down here are the impressively large vault of General Thomas Eckert, whose desk the Emancipation Proclamation was drawn on, and the tomb of the Delmonicos. The latter are generally regarded as bringing the a la carte restaurant to the United States, and the Delmonico steak – something New Yorkers will still ask for by name.

This absolutely falls in the “moderately interesting” category. You’d have to be really geekily fascinated by the individuals in question to push it any higher. What ends up being unexpectedly fascinating is what comes before getting down into the catacombs.

The history of Nolita, New York City

The Basilica is in what’s now known as Nolita, one of the most expensive areas in Manhattan. To say it has not always been like this is a considerable understatement. In the 1830s, this was the North End of the Five Points. The area was so densely populated and crime-ridden that Charles Dickens called it more dangerous than the London slums.

The first group of immigrants to settle here were the Irish – as the name of the Basilica would suggest. Most of the names on the gravestones in the surrounding cemetery – which predates the church – are Irish. But by the middle of the 20^th century, it was a predominantly Italian area. And the Italian names can be seen on little post box-style niches that became popular after the Catholic Church permitted cremation in 1863.

The Five Points gangs

Perhaps more unusual are the thick, tall walls around the cemetery. These date back to the gangs of the Five Points, which included some pretty brutal nativists who wanted the immigrants out. They burned down several Catholic churches.

St Patrick’s was constantly guarded in a bid to stop it meeting the same fate. It eventually did – but at the hands of a stove fire rather than malevolent arsonists.

Extraordinary characters are unveiled along the way. There’s a bust of ‘Dagger’ John Hughes, the first Archbishop of the New York diocese, who’d have probably risen further in the church were it not for his notorious sharp tongue.

Then there’s the tomb of John Dubois, built into the church steps. His theory was that people walked all over him in life, so they may as well in death too.

The grave of Pierre Toussaint

And, in the north cemetery, there’s the grave of Pierre Toussaint, who was born as a slave in Santo Domingo (now Haiti). His owners brought him to New York, where he became the most sought-after hairdresser in the city, bought his freedom, became incredibly rich and then the church’s chief financier. He’s on the second stage of the track to sainthood. The Church is just waiting for sufficient miracles to occur that are related to him.

The modern day Basilica of St Patrick’s Old Cathedral

The range of backgrounds is fascinating – the congregation at the Basilica these days is heavily Latin American-skewed – and the whole place becomes a microcosm of the greater New York story.

It’s a city where waves of people have arrived, been fought by hostile groups already there, then replaced by another wave from somewhere else. It’ll probably be like that for a few more centuries yet, irrespective of who ends up in the catacombs.

Inside the New York Catacombs. Photo by David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions.

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