John Zuricher, Stone Cutter, and His Imprint on the Religious Landscape of Colonial New York

Abstract

John Zuricher was colonial New York City’s most prolific gravestone carver. Compared to the rather thin documentary trail that John Zuricher left, his material record is incredibly rich, comprising several hundred gravestones produced during a career that spanned four decades. Zuricher appears to have been active in both the Dutch and German communities but he also had many clients among the English elite in Manhattan. Zuricher’s stones also provide information about colonial trade networks. Working in New York City Zuricher found it easy to link into both regional trade networks and also into an East Coast trade network with Zuricher producing stones for clients as far south as Charleston, South Carolina. The Zuricher gravestones survive as artifacts to tell a story not only about Zuricher the man and his career but more importantly about life in colonial New York.