Cherry Street

The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam is a map of the early Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, which later became New York City. The map was created in 1660 by Jacques Cortelyou, General Governor of Nieuw Amsterdam at that time, and is one of the earliest surviving maps of New Amsterdam. The map shows the layout of the settlement, including the locations of streets, buildings, and fortifications. It also includes illustrations of various landmarks and features of the city, such as the town hall, the church, and the governor's house. The Castello Plan is an important historical document as it provides a detailed record of the early development of New Amsterdam and is one of the few surviving primary sources from this period of the city's history. It is now housed in the New York Historical Society in New York City. It was discovered in 1900 at the Villa di Castello near Florence, Italy, where it had remained. Shown here is the version that was redrawn by John Wolcott Adams and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, and given its current name in 1916.

This “Plan of the City of New York” often referred to as the “Ratzen Plan” due to the surveyor, Bernard Ratzer’s name being misspelt, is a colonial era plan of south Manhattan surveyed in 1766 and 1767.  A revised and more accurate version of the John Montresor’s manuscript map of 1767, this map shows ward names and boundaries with a dedication to Sir Henry Moore, the then Governor of New York, and a numbered index of “references” to various churches and public buildings.