Church St, Financial District

Church street starts below Canal and runs to the bottom of Manhattan. It's one of the older streets in the city and is packed with history. Great street to walk. The Tribeca Grand is at Walker and is the same owners as the Soho Grand. It's a very fancy, hip place to stop in for drink on your walk back from Ground Zero. The building directly across the street has a ton of history to it. It was built in 1877 over a building that was condemned in 1875 for being a largely popular bordello owned by Diana Vreeland's grandmother. That's pretty cool.
The corner of Church and Leonard was the first African American Church in New York city (1796). It is now a law library but the building is the same, I believe. The first African American newspaper was started directly next door. The Cary building (at Reade) is a cast-iron landmark from 1857. It's a lovely building to take a peeksy at. The original site for Columbia University (called King's College back then) was at Church and Murray. It was shut down for the Revolutionary War and later relocated to way way uptown. Although, Columbia is so beautiful, it doesn't really matter how far away it is. The corner of Barclay and Church is St Peter's Church. It is the oldest church in NYC (built in 1785). It was destroyed in a fire in 1835 but rebuilt shortly thereafter. St Paul's Chapel is a block down and it is the oldest building in Manhattan (built in 1764). It was part of Trinity Church and was the only building that survived the fire. Anybody who's anybody in a historical sense (George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, Grover Cleveland) has worshipped at this chapel.
It's interesting that this Chapel not only was the only building to survive the Trinity fire. But, it also survived the Sept 11th attacks and it is directly across the street from Ground Zero. I'm not sure how I feel about Ground Zero being a tourist attraction, but it is an unreal sight. The depth and circumference of that hole is chilling.
Trinity Church and Churchyard are a must-see in my opinion. They are so old and beautiful and kinda spooky. They are just a few blocks down from Ground Zero. You can actually feel the history when you walk up. The buildings all south of Rector on Church are incredibly old (some of the oldest in the city) and beautiful and a quick jaunt past them is worth the hike.
Church changes a lot in aesthetic as you travel down, but there is so much history, it's kind of a must walk.

The southern portion of Church street, near The World Trade Center, is one of the most functional streets I've ever been on. With easy access to various subway stations, and quite a few of the downtown buses running here, it is no surprise that this street is full of small delis and service stores that are attractive to those on the move. A newly renovated 7-11 stands out as a gem on this street with full functional coffee bar, a hot food section, and of course, the traditional 7-11 convenience. This street also has a couple of decent restaurants, including some very small, but very cute (and delicious!) sushi bars and a Middle-Eastern style restaurant called Mocca, where one should definitely try that frozen Limonana! This area is mostly for daily labrorers, it is definitely geared towards to consumer. The Gray's Papaya like restaurant also offers the uptown treats closer to work!