Ms. Petrimoulx said that in recent months, more young people have populated her tours, curious not only about Alexander Hamilton but also about other characters from the show who are buried at Trinity Church.
“I got a question about Hercules Mulligan a few months ago,” she said. “No one had ever asked about Hercules Mulligan before.”
For the first time, visitors have started leaving stones and flowers on the graves of both Hamilton and his wife, Eliza. “There are just as many left on Eliza’s grave as there are on Alexander’s,” Ms. Petrimoulx said. “Maybe even more.”
Eliza Hamilton died in 1854 at the age of 97. Her grave, a plain white marble slab at the foot of a far grander monument to her husband, bears the words “Daughter of” and “Wife of.” Little more was known about her until “Hamilton” (and the Ron Chernow biography on which it is based) brought her accomplishments to light. She founded the first private orphanage in New York City and advocated for the construction of the Washington Monument, among other things. Now she has a fan base all her own.
The same can be said for her sister, Angelica Schuyler Church, whose romantic feelings for Hamilton provide one of the musical’s most bittersweet plotlines. Founding fathers aside, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton,” has said that he considers her the show’s smartest character.
“The hot question in the gift shop is where exactly Angelica is buried,” Ms. Petrimoulx said. (Her remains are in a vault that bears only the name Livingston, her relatives by marriage.)
After the Broadway Show, a Trip to Hamilton’s Grave (NYT)
Real talk I’ve visited Hamilton’s grave twice. The first time the snow had been cleared around his grave but not Eliza’s.
This time there was a red rose laid on her stone, and the snow cleared away from both.
(via seiya234)