Fraunces Tavern story from Helene Hanf

Somehow I am reluctant to leave New York. We had two days there after six days on the Atlantic. We were there on 26th and 27th September. It was after our Staten Island ferry trip, when we arrived back to lower Manhattan that we happened upon the Fraunces Tavern an old and most interesting building which Helene Hanff had included on her itinerary. Whereas Helene Hanff had to ask a suited city worker, who happened to have a map in his pocket, how to find the 18th century building, we were lucky enough to find it when we were on our way to Battery Park from the ferry. The tavern is named after Samuel Fraunces, a West Indian, who owned the tavern before, during and after the revolution. To quote Helene, "when the British invaded New York the patriots fled and the British confiscated all patriot property. When the British marched out, the patriots returned and they confiscated all Tory property. But neither side ever confiscated Fraunces Tavern. He was black so he didn't count as a patriot or a Tory."

The Fraunces Tavern, New York, tells a story of its own

Opposite the Fraunces Tavern is the street to the site where the world trade centre stood. We, however were on our way to Battery Park, where we found a most attractive little building in the form of a Subway station, quaintly called, "Bowling Green," it was from there we went to the East Side and the tenement museum on our first day. I'm reluctant to leave New York because its liveliness, its smells, its noise, its buildings and its traffic, the whole experience of being there, chatting to New Yorkers and riding on the subway is still strong in my memory. We left the city in the evening for a short trip round the coast to Newport.