Echoes of Revolution walking tour | MORAL COMPASS: Great Places to Go Where the Going Does Good

A free immersive walking tour in downtown Manhattan reframes New York as the heart of the American Revolution – set in the Assassin’s Creed® universe

July 1776, “La Destruction de la Statue Royale a Nouvelle Yorck”, published in Paris. When General Washington’s troops heard about the Declaration of Independence, they pulled down the statue of George III at New York’s Bowling Green. The print is part of “Declaring the Revolution: America’s Printed Path to Independence,” New York Historical’s first in series of exhibits focused on the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. On view through April 12, 2026.

New York, NY –NYC Revolutionary Trail: Echoes of Revolution , a free, mobile, geo-located immersive, self-guided 90-minute walking tour, will launch in June 2026 to celebrate America’s upcoming 250^th anniversary.

Founded by The Gotham Center for NYC History at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, the multimedia walking tour in downtown Manhattan reframes New York at the heart of the American Revolution. Partnering with Video Game Publisher Ubisoft and Creative Technology Studio Sugar Creative, Echoes of Revolution uses augmented reality to place visitors inside Revolutionary-era New York, including characters, ships, and streets recreated from Ubisoft Inc.’s Assassin’s Creed’s universe.

Echoes of Revolution is a new version of Gotham’s original NYC Revolutionary Trail App and will also partner with the Museum of the City of New York for the upcoming exhibit, “The Occupied City,” to ring in New York’s 250^th celebration.

“While Boston and Philadelphia often dominate the conversation about America’s Revolution, New York was at the center of events surrounding Independence and the City’s history is often overlooked. The war literally began and ended in the city, from the earliest major battle – the largest and most important of the war – to the British evacuation,” said Peter-Christian Aigner, Co-Founder of NYC Revolutionary Trail and Director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. “Our goal is to correct this misunderstanding and reframe New York as the city at the heart of the American Revolution. We are thrilled to partner with Ubisoft and Sugar Creative to launch NYC Revolutionary Trail and bring history to life in a compelling, immersive and interactive way that will attract a new generation of history fans.”

Starting at the Battery and ending at Federal Hall via Bowling Green, Wall Street, and other pivotal sites, the 90-minute, 3-mile walking tour will transport visitors back in time on a journey throughout lower Manhattan, where they will relive pivotal historical moments from the founding of the United States, uncover the stories that shaped the nation’s beginnings in the actual locations where they took place, and have a close-up experience of the “city at the heart of the Revolution,” with each stop providing audio narration with site information, character profiles, videos and links to Center’s Library.

The Trail will incorporate cutting-edge AR and geolocation technology alongside exclusive historical environments and character assets from the Assassin’s Creed universe, allowing visitors to explore a digitally reconstructed colonial New York layered directly onto today’s streets.

“Ubisoft is excited about using the worlds of Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed Rogue to bring key moments of the American Revolution to life for visitors exploring the streets of New York City,” said Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, Strategic Alliances Director at Ubisoft.

“Echoes of Revolution brings Revolutionary-era history to life in New York City in a way that no single museum or statue can by connecting people physically to the stories and places where history actually unfolded,” said Will Humphrey, Creative Director of Cardiff-based Sugar Creative Labs.

“The Freedom Trail that many of us visited on school trips as kids helped redefine Boston’s place in the story of the American Revolution,” said Ted Knudsen, Co-Founder of the NYC Revolutionary Trail and Professor of History at CUNY Queens College. “By connecting nationally significant sites through a simple, accessible walking route, it became a beloved tradition for families, students, locals, and visitors—and permanently put Boston on the historical map. Our goal is to do the same for New York. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we’re inviting New Yorkers and visitors alike to rediscover the city’s central role in the founding of the United States.”

In addition, as part of NYC Revolutionary Trail, The Gotham Center offers an online classroom featuring short, standard-aligned lesson modules for middle school, high school, and college students nationwide.

Echoes of Revolution was made possible by support from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis-Bodman Foundation, Creative Wales and Media Cymru through UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) and New York’s Downtown Alliance.

More details of New York City Revolutionary Trail will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more information, visit https://nycrevolutionarytrail.org or follow on Instagram @NYCRevTrail, Facebook or X @NYCRevTrail.

NEW YORK STATE CELEBRATES AMERICA’S 250TH

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