NYC Revolutionary Trail: Echoes of Revolution will launch in June to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, offering a free augmented reality walking tour through Lower Manhattan’s Revolutionary War sites.
Founded by The Gotham Center for NYC History at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, the 90-minute tour partners with video game publisher Ubisoft and creative technology studio Sugar Creative to place visitors inside Revolutionary-era New York.
The mobile, geo-located immersive walking tour uses augmented reality to recreate characters, ships and streets from Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed universe. Starting at the Battery and ending at Federal Hall via Bowling Green, Wall Street and other pivotal sites, the three-mile tour transports visitors back in time to relive historical moments from the founding of the United States in the actual locations where they took place.
Peter-Christian Aigner, Co-Founder of NYC Revolutionary Trail and Director of the Gotham Center for New York City History, explained that while Boston and Philadelphia often dominate the conversation about the American Revolution, New York was at the center of events surrounding Independence. The war literally began and ended in the city, from the earliest major battle to the British evacuation, though the city’s history is often overlooked.
The tour incorporates cutting-edge augmented reality 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. Each stop provides audio narration with site information, character profiles, videos and links to the Gotham Center’s Library.
Ted Knudsen, Co-Founder of NYC Revolutionary Trail and Professor of History at CUNY Queens College, compared the initiative to Boston’s Freedom Trail, which helped redefine that city’s place in the story of the American Revolution. By connecting nationally significant sites through a simple, accessible walking route, it became a beloved tradition for families, students, locals and visitors. The goal is to do the same for New York as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.
Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, Strategic Alliances Director at Ubisoft, stated the company 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 New York City’s streets. Will Humphrey, Creative Director of Cardiff-based Sugar Creative Labs, emphasized the experience brings Revolutionary-era history to life in a way that no single museum or statue can by connecting people physically to the stories and places where history actually unfolded.
The Gotham Center also offers an online classroom featuring short, standard-aligned lesson modules for middle school, high school and college students nationwide as part of NYC Revolutionary Trail.
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 and New York’s Downtown Alliance.
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