St. Paul's Chapel

This guide to St. Paul's Chapel in Lower Manhattan spans two crises two centuries apart: the colonial-era church raised in 1766, where George Washington prayed on his inauguration day after walking over from Federal Hall, and the chapel's second life after September 11, 2001, when it stood a block from the fallen towers. You'll hear about the volunteers who turned the pews into a round-the-clock refuge for rescue and recovery workers, cooking, playing music, and setting up cots between the aisles. A listening tip: pause among the pews and take in how one small room held both stories.