The Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton

The Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton occupies the rectory of Saint Elizabeth Seton, an elegant house built in 1793 for James Watson, with an 1806 addition whose portico curves along State Street in a city where curved buildings are rare. At the time, the area was a posh residential district lined with fine brick town houses; today, the Watson House is the sole survivor and one of the few downtown buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1835. The double-story wooden columns of the extension’s upper floors are said to be made of old ship masts. It was the former home of Elizabeth Ann Seton, America’s first-born saint and founder of the Sisters of Charity, America’s first order of nuns. Mother Seton dedicated herself to caring for the children of the poor and founded the country’s first free Catholic school for girls.

New York, New York · United States