NYC Walking Tour: Garbage, Rats & Wall Street History

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/8

Duration2h 30m

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

What New York Built on Garbage—and How Rats Became Part of the Story

You walk four stops from Wall Street to City Hall Park, learning how garbage and rats shaped New York City's infrastructure and history. The guide, trained at the Trash Academy and Rat Academy, covers rat biology, landfill systems, the 1968 sanitation strike, and a 1979 rat attack that changed city policy. The tour is wheelchair accessible, takes about two hours, and includes no more than fifteen people per group.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore NYC garbage and rat history

Start on Wall Street
Discuss Wall Street as garbage dump and slave market
Walk up South Street
Discuss garbage, landfill, rats, and Fulton Street Fish Market
Stop at former Sportsman's Hall rat pit
Visit DeLury Square
Talk about 1968 garbage strike and Sanitation Union
Stroll Ryder and Eden Alleys
Continue up Ann Street
Discuss 1979 rat attack
Visit Theatre Alley and City Hall Park
Dive into rat lore and trash facts

The Experience

Our guide stops you on Wall Street and points to the ground beneath your feet. This wasn't always the financial district, she says—it was a garbage dump in Nieuw Amsterdam, and before that, the official market where enslaved African people were bought and rented. She's a graduate of the New York City Trash Academy and a member of the Rat Pack, an elite squad of anti-rat activists, and she doesn't soften the subject. You're here to learn how New York City has dealt with filth, disease, and rats since 1626, and she starts with the ground you're standing on.

The walk moves up South Street, where the history of garbage disposal and landfill becomes visible in the streets themselves. You'll stop at the former site of Sportsman's Hall, a notorious rat pit where fights were held, and hear the stories that connect rodent biology to human consumption—why rats thrive where we throw things away. The guide talks about the Fulton Street Fish Market, the waste it generated, and the rats it fed. Then you reach DeLury Square, where in 1968 the Sanitation Union struck, and the city choked on its own trash. John DeLury's name comes up. You walk through Ryder and Eden Alleys, narrow passages that tell their own story about how garbage moves through a city.

Ann Street is where a rat attack happened in 1979—a real incident that shaped how the city thinks about rodent control. The tour continues into Theatre Alley and ends at City Hall Park, where the guide ties together the science and the history: rat behavior, disease vectors, metaphorical rats (corrupt officials), and the systems New York built to manage both. You may or may not see a rat during the walk, but you'll understand why they're here and how the city got to where it is now. The group stays under fifteen people, so the conversation stays close and the questions get answered.

What’s included

Your tour includes a guided walking tour with a Trash Academy graduate covering four stops: Wall Street (its history as a garbage dump and slave market), South Street and the former Fulton Street Fish Market, DeLury Square and the 1968 sanitation strike, and Ann Street through Theatre Alley to City Hall Park. Groups are limited to fifteen people, and the tour is wheelchair accessible.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Off the Beaten Subway Track Walking Tours

Is this one for you?Pick this if you want to understand how New York's infrastructure and history are tied to garbage and rats, and you'd rather learn from someone trained in both subjects than piece it together from separate sources. The small group size means you can ask questions as you walk.