15 years after National Treasure came out, heres the real story of the Manhattan church that the movie suggests hides buried loot – Business Insider

captionThe stained glass wall inside Trinity Church in New York City.sourceCourtesy of Tiani Jones/Trinity Church

In the universe of the film National Treasure, Trinity Churchs imposing dark brick and skyward spire hide secrets and treasure.

In Disneys 2004 movie, Nicholas Cage plays a historian and treasure hunter who uses a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence to track down an assortment of gold, jewels, and artifacts buried in the catacombs of Trinity Church. The treasure was, according to the films plot, hidden there by the Free Masons a real secret society whose membership boasted revolutionaries like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton.

The true story of Trinity Church, which is located in the heart of Manhattans financial district, involves a lot less gold and lot more history, according to church archivist Joseph Lapinski.

Fifteen years after National Treasure hit theaters the movie came out in November 2014 queries about the churchs connection to the Free Masons treasure have finally died down, Lapinski told Business Insider. (Nearly everything depicted in the movie pertaining to Trinity Church is untrue, he said.)

Oddly enough, I dont get too many questions about National Treasure to have a queued up list anymore, Lapinski said. He has worked at Trinity since 2013.

These days, visitors are more interested in the churchs role in the American Revolution, since Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza (made newly famous by the musical Hamilton) owned a pew, worshipped there, and were buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Heres what National Treasure got wrong about Trinity Church and the real secrets the building holds, according to Lapinski.

The main thing I usually stress is that theres no crypts underneath Trinity Church, Lapinski said. There are some burials under the altar, but theyre not formal crypts in the way the movie portrays.

The cemetery on the north side was created before the churchs construction in 1697. It started as a Dutch burial ground.

The Ludlows, the Bleeckers, the Livingstons all the people whose names are on New York street signs were people who attended Trinity Church, he added.

Many of the people buried there were Free Masons.

The organization eventually took on a more clandestine air as its members assumed influential roles in business and society. Of the 39 people who signed the US Constitution, 13 were Free Masons. However, while the group played a key role in forming the United States, its members did not actually transport any secret treasure.

Today, the all-male order is the worlds largest secret society, with at least 2 million members.

One such headstone marks the grave of a man named James Leeson, and it has a cryptogram that, when deciphered, reads Remember Death a common warning used on 18th-century headstones, Lapinski said.

Beneath the cryptogram are engraved Masonic symbols, including an hourglass, a compass, and a flame rising from an open vessel.

Beyond this indication that Leeson was a Mason, no further record of him can be found, according to Lapinski.

Rather, many powerful male professionals in New York during the 1700s were also part of the Free Masons, and when they were buried at Trinity Church, their headstones included Masonic symbols.

Prominent New Yorkers like Robert Fulton, who invented the steamboat, and Albert Gallatin, who founded New York University, are also buried there.

During the Revolutionary War, the churchs rector even wrote a loyalist response to patriot Thomas Paines pamphlet, Common Sense, which advocated for the colonies freedom.

But according to Lapinski, not all parishioners were loyalists.

Hamilton and fellow patriot John Jay both owned pews at Trinity Church.

There was an interesting dynamic of tension, Lapinski said.

After the American Revolution ended, the churchs new rector, Samuel Provoost, deleted the line in Trinity Churchs charter that stipulated clergy members had to be loyal to the British crown.

On the night of September 20, 1776, a devastating fire destroyed an estimated 10% to 25% of the buildings in Manhattan. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

The third version of the church was built in 1846 and remains standing to this day.

Captain William Kidd, a Scottish sailor executed for piracy in 1701, lent parts of his ship for use during Trinity Churchs construction.

According to Lapinski, there are two references to Kidd in the church archives. Hes mentioned in a short line: Captain Kidd helped with construction of first church by loaning buildings his runner and tackle to pull up stones.

The pirates name is also written on the list of church pews. Kidd shared ownership of the first-row pew with Trinity Churchs rector.

To me, the treasures arent gold and silver and jewels its the documents that get to share the story of where Trinity came from, Lapinski said.

It was signed by King William III in 1697.

These are great resources that tell us who was here and when, Lapinski said.

Archives reflect how we administered services to a growing and changing city, he added.

In the late 1800s, the part of Manhattan near Trinity Church was known as printers row or newspaper row, since it was home to the big-name publications of the day (including The New York Times).

According to Lapinksi, the church accommodated the schedules of people working in these printing presses by hosting 2 a.m. services.

Trinity Churchs central location and immutability has attracted many historians particularly those researching Alexander Hamilton, Lapinski said.

But the interior of Trinity Church is currently closed for construction work.

Trinitys nave, with its 66-foot vaulted ceilings, has been closed to the public for 19 months. According to Tiani Jones, the churchs media relations manager, the nave should reopen in February or March.

The Trinity Church Cemetery therefore includes three separate burial grounds at St. Pauls, 155th street, and the original church. Between those sites, the church owns the last active cemeteries left in Manhattan.

John James Audubon, one of the most prominent ornithologists in history, is buried at the Trinity Church Mausoleum and Cemetery on 155th Street.

St. Pauls Chapel, meanwhile, is famous in part because George Washington went there for services on the day of his inauguration in 1789.

Its assets are estimated at around $2 billion. So the church does, in a sense, hold ample treasure.

Read the rest here:
15 years after National Treasure came out, heres the real story of the Manhattan church that the movie suggests hides buried loot - Business Insider