(LonelyPlanet.com) -- Despite the daily foot traffic, Lower Manhattan is one of the most under-appreciated parts of New York City. It's not just a playground for suits bound for Wall Street bank jobs or tourists following the old New Amsterdam crooked plan through skyscraper canyons heading to the Statue of Liberty -- or, increasingly over the coming months, crowding to get a glimpse of the new 9/11 Memorial.





As someone who has spent most of the last two decades in New York City, I can't begin to count the number of times visiting friends and friends of friends have asked me for "fun things to do in New York City."





The hidden sides of Lower Manhattan fit the bill. If you're heading to visit the 9/11 Memorial and are looking for other things to do in the area, try these tips:





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1. Trinity Church's gravestones





New York's most historic church, dating from 1698, faces Wall Street from Broadway. Visitors often pop in to see the stained glass and perhaps peek into the free museum (which includes a cut-out $10 bill so you can pose as Alexander Hamilton).





The Hamilton focus is there because the country's first US Secretary of Treasury -- who was shot in a duel by the former Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804 (no, Dick Cheney wasn't the first VP to shoot someone) -- is buried outside. But that's not the best part of the cemetery. On the bigger plot, on the north side of the church, there are shady spots to sit, and at the far northeastern corner lies James Leeson, who left a coded message atop his tombstone. According to Kevin Walsh's superb book "Forgotten New York," the code was finally cracked nearly a century after his death in 1794. The message: "Remember death."





2. National Museum of the American Indian





Manhattan got its name from the Lenape word for either "place of hills" or "place of inebriation" (the latter is certainly more apt in the past few hundred years), and Broadway itself follows old hunting trails that date centuries before Henry Hudson wandered this way. A great place to learn more about all of the Americas' pre-Columbian inhabitants is this free, relatively quiet museum. Part of the Smithsonian (and open every day), the exhibit of artifacts fills the gorgeous century-old Customs House.





Many equate Native Americans with images seen in old westerns -- usually wearing the attire of the Plains Indians, evident in a shirt that may have been worn by Sioux legend Crazy Horse. The "Infinity of Nations" exhibit gives a fuller picture. I also enjoyed thumbing through Native American newspapers from around the country and seeing works like a painting by Naiche, a Chiricahua Apache "prisoner-of-war" at Fort Sill, Oklahoma a century ago.





3. Stone Street dining





I'm always shocked by how many people eat lunch at unmemorable places on Broadway or chains at South Street Seaport. Locals instead bee-line for the city's first paved street, Stone Street, a small traffic-free winding lane filled with covered tables a few blocks east of Broadway (and south of Wall Street), lined with good food and bars. It gets BUSY on weekday lunches (noon to 1:30 p.m.) and as work winds down (after 4 p.m.). Go then, and share an outside table.





I like Adrienne's Pizza Bar (54 Stone St.) the best, but it comes in one big size -- don't go solo.





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4. Rat Alley





OK, most people won't want to walk down Edens Alley, an L-shaped alley near the corner of Gold Street and Fulton Street, en route from the World Trade Center site to South Street Seaport. But it's legendary. In 2001, Robert Sullivan spent many nights here for four seasons, watching a terrifying scene of "relay teams" of eight to 10 rats storming into garbage bags that roared like "
where should you stop to see stained glass? When is the best time to visit? What is a feature of Lower Manhattan? What types of food is sold on Stone Street? what is what of the most under-appreciated parts of NYC? Where is the Trinity Church located? What can you see at the Trinity Church?
Trinity Church's gravestones weekday lunches (noon to 1:30 p.m.) and as work winds down (after 4 p.m.). the new 9/11 Memorial. Pizza Lower Manhattan faces Wall Street from Broadway. gravestones
question: where should you stop to see stained glass?, answer: Trinity Church's gravestones | question: When is the best time to visit?, answer: weekday lunches (noon to 1:30 p.m.) and as work winds down (after 4 p.m.). | question: What is a feature of Lower Manhattan?, answer: the new 9/11 Memorial. | question: What types of food is sold on Stone Street?, answer: Pizza | question: what is what of the most under-appreciated parts of NYC?, answer: Lower Manhattan | question: Where is the Trinity Church located?, answer: faces Wall Street from Broadway. | question: What can you see at the Trinity Church?, answer: gravestones