five points neighborhood

The recent rediscovery and excavation of an 18th century African Burial Ground at Broadway and Reade Street in lower Manhattan has sparked the interests of many New Yorkers.

Five Points, adjacent to the African Burial Ground, was New York's most notorious 19th century slum. It was a mixed neighborhood of seminal importance to the development of New York City in the 18th and 19th century. Known as one of the most violent, dangerous and impoverished slums in the history of New York City, it was so famous that Charles Dickens visited the area and wrote about it in his American Notes published in 1842.