Purefinder New York Walking Tours
Purefinder New York leads research-driven historical walking tours across Manhattan, offering unique NYC tours based on archival sources and documented history.
Our tours examine subjects ranging from death and psychiatry to surveillance, scandal, and political power, parts of the city’s past rarely included in standard tours.
Our public tour schedule changes seasonally, and not all tours run at the same time of year. However, all tours are available year-round as private experiences for groups, institutions, and special events.
“Each tour peels back the layers of city mythology to reveal what actually happened, using public records, archival research and a tone that gently reminds you this was never the land of moral high ground.”
Available through May
Death in New York
Extended Daylight Tour
Immerse yourself in New York’s rich history of death, burial, epidemics, and execution on this in-depth 2.75-hour tour.
The Psychiatric History of New York
Take an analytical stroll through the evolution of psychiatry on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Oppenheimer in New York
Walk through the mind of a man—J. Robert Oppenheimer—the making of an era, and the streets that shaped them both.
Continuing Through June
Hell Gate: New York’s Forgotten Islands Walking Tour
Explore the treacherous waters of Hell Gate, a notorious one-mile stretch of the East River—between Manhattan and Astoria, Queens—that has claimed countless ships with its deadly currents, jagged reefs, and legendary whirlpools.
Coming in June
Twilight Tour
Death in New York
Explore stories of burial grounds, executions, and forgotten dead as the city transitions from day to night.
Surveillance, Propaganda & Control in Midtown Manhattan
A walk through Midtown Manhattan exploring how surveillance, propaganda, and quiet systems of control shaped public life in the twentieth century.
Central Park
Scandal & Vice
Discover the secrets hiding in plain sight inside New York City’s most iconic park.
The Outlaws Who Built NYC
Scandal. Subterfuge. Street-level rebellion. The real architects of New York City weren’t saints. They were schemers.
Returning in November
The Dark Christmas Tour
Explore how faith, folklore, and unrest shaped the city’s idea of Christmas in this 90-minute walk through Lower Manhattan.
Purefinder New York Tours Exclusive to Airbnb Experiences
NYC’s Top Ten Hidden Stories Tour
Discover ten hidden stories in Central Park, Harlem, and the Upper West Side, from Houdini to the Titanic, uprisings, tunnels, and strange landmarks, on this tour available exclusively through Airbnb Experiences.
The Dutch Are Still Here
A Dark History of NYC
Four centuries later, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam still shapes New York City. This walk explores how a trading outpost built by merchants, the enslaved, and the ambitious set the tone for the city’s unique and opportunistic character. The tour is available exclusively through Airbnb Experiences.