The story behind our reconstructions
Almost nothing of New Amsterdam survives above ground. The Dutch town that grew into New York lies buried beneath the streets of lower Manhattan, its houses, docks and gardens long gone under glass and concrete. Standing in the modern city today, you would never know it was there.
TimeLens brings it back with the New Amsterdam History Center. Working from careful historical research they rebuilt New Amsterdam exactly as it stood in 1660 and set it back where it belongs. Stand at a site, raise your phone, and see the Dutch settlement restored around you, the streets alive with traders and families, and look inside the homes where they lived their daily lives.
What makes these New Amsterdam reconstructions special is how complete they are. Based on the the 1660 Castello Plan and additional historic sources they rebuilt not just the streets but even some of the rooms inside its houses, and even name the people who filled them, from the interpreter Sara Roelofs to the enslaved workers in her household.
The TimeSpots in New York City
Each TimeSpot is a real place in New York where you can stand and see the past restored in full, 360 degrees around you. Travel to a spot to unlock it, then look around the scene at your own pace. Below you can find every New Amsterdam TimeSpot we currently have and some of those we are working on.
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City Hall.
Built in 1641 as a riverside tavern, this gathering place became New Amsterdam's first City Hall, the Stadt Huys. -
The Dutch West India Company Garden.
The gardens where New Amsterdammers grew their own food, from imported fruit trees to the Native American Three Sisters, and where coleslaw was first served. -
The Dock.
The humble landing where ships from Europe, the Caribbean and beyond were rowed ashore, the starting point of New Amsterdam's global trade. -
The Fort.
Fort Amsterdam, the headquarters of Dutch colonial rule, with its barracks, prison, council chamber and the church at its heart. -
The Indian Trading House.
The Saturday meeting place where Indigenous traders, townspeople and Company officials exchanged furs, wampum and goods, with Sara Roelofs nearby to interpret. -
The Kierstede House.
Stand inside the full home of Sara Roelofs and the surgeon Hans Kierstede, from the front room and apothecary to the attic where enslaved workers slept. -
The Parade Ground and Broadway.
The open ground before the fort, used for drills and livestock sales, where an old Lenape trail set out north to become Broadway. -
The Wall.
The wooden barrier raised in 1653 against the English, never used in battle, whose name lives on as Wall Street. -
The House of Enslaved Workers.
Recorded in 1643 as the dwelling for people enslaved by the Dutch West India Company, where many were forced to live crammed together.
How to use TimeLens
Step 1: Travel to a TimeSpot
Make your way to one of the historic locations shown on the map. Once you arrive, it automatically unlocks the TimeSpot for you.
Step 2: Look around
Hold up your phone and take in the scene in every direction. A 360-degrees historic reconstruction of the city full of life.
Step 3: Collect rewards
For each location you discover, you receive a badge and some TimeCoins as a reward. Discovering combinations of TimeSpots even gives you special awards.
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Want to help us create more of these reconstructions?
Every reconstruction takes months of research and craft. A small amount each month helps us build more of them, and brings you along for the journey, with early previews, behind the scenes insights, and a say in which places we bring back next. You can even have your name featured in the app, or appear as a figure in a future scene.
Based on historic research
The experts behind the New Amsterdam reconstructions
Every New Amsterdam TimeSpot is brought to you in collaboration with the New Amsterdam History Center. Each scene rests on their solid research. Their Mapping Early New York project spent years researching and modelling the Dutch city from the 1660 Castello Plan, and those models are the foundation of what you see. The narration is co-written and voiced by the historian Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the World and Taking Manhattan.
Special thanks to Toya Dubin, Vanessa B. Sellers and Eduard van Dijk for making this collaboration possible.
Experience the past where it once happened
