New York City

The Spiritual Traveler: New York City is a unique guidebook. It invites you to discover and explore a multitude of spiritual sites in all five boroughs where New Yorkers have sought peace and strength in the past and in the present. It covers all of the world's religions and spiritual movements, and is written for readers and seekers of every faith and none. The Spiritual Traveler: New York City introduces hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, shrines, meetinghouses, and other sacred spaces, and the communities that join there to worship, to celebrate, and to serve. It describes landmarks that rank among America's finest works of architecture and contain treasures of spiritual art and history. It lists restful rural-style cemeteries, the city's oldest and tallest trees, parks, botanical gardens, and other peaceful places. It includes sites that commemorate historic events of spiritual significance, great sacrifices, or movements for human welfare: memorials to those who gave their lives helping others, homes of writers and artists of spiritual masterpieces, and locations where new initiatives in social service were launched. The Spiritual Traveler: New York City reveals the stories behind these extraordinary spaces and places of spiritual power and truly takes you to the heart and soul of one of the world's great cities. The many spiritual sites to be discovered include - a pulpit made of wood from Jerusalem's Mount of Olives - a turtle carved in rock serving Native American sacred ceremonies - New York's largest image of Buddha - colonial millstones used by both the city's first Protestant congregation and America's first Jewish congregation - New York's oldest mosque - the homes of Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Kahlil Gibran and Simone Weil - the first tree given official City Landmark status - the nation's oldest continuously-inhabited free African-American settlement - America's first Hindu temple built according to ancient sacred texts - New York's first Spanish-language Roman Catholic parish - a slave burial ground near City Hall - the only Chinese Scholar's Garden in the United States - one of only three "Sanctuaries of the Virgin" in the Western hemisphere - the congregation of the world's first female rabbi - the oldest urban community garden in the country - a Tibetan museum recommended by the Dalai Lama - the world's first "Fragrance Garden" designed for the blind - the spot where Quaker founder George Fox preached in 1672 - relics of the medieval Saint and Emperor Henry II - the bell that announced the War of Independence - the first Jewish congregation to broadcast a webcast of its service - a sacred tower you can climb for one of New York's finest views +