Things to Do in Newark, United States: Walking Guide

Looking for things to do in Newark? New Jersey’s largest city brings together historic churches, civic landmarks, museums, performing arts, and distinctive neighborhoods. From the old streets around Four Corners to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark offers plenty to explore on foot and by public transport. Neywo’s free Newark audio guide includes 66 narrated places, helping you understand the city as you move through it.

Newark is one of the oldest urban communities in the United States. Founded in 1666 by Puritan settlers from New Haven Colony, it later developed into a diverse industrial center. Today, it forms part of the New York metropolitan area while retaining a strong cultural and historical identity of its own. It is also a gateway to the wider region of New Jersey and the United States.

What to see in Newark

Four Corners and Old First Presbyterian Church

Four Corners, at the crossroads of Broad and Market Streets, was once one of Newark’s major commercial intersections. It remains an important point for understanding the city’s civic and economic development.

Nearby, Old First Presbyterian Church—also known as First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery—connects Newark’s religious history with its early settlement. The congregation began around 1668 as a Congregational Church and became Presbyterian in 1720. The present building was constructed in 1787 on Broad Street, on the site of an earlier meeting house. Its Colonial and Georgian design stands within the Four Corners Historic District, alongside an old burial ground.

First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

Near Military Park, First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church is recognizable for its rough-hewn brown granite, prominent towers, and large dome. The congregation was established on June 6, 1801, and the church remained part of Newark’s history through major changes in the city, including its incorporation in 1836 and the unrest of 1967.

The building’s circular auditorium sits beneath the dome, creating an interior form compared with the Pantheon in Rome. Moorish- or Byzantine-inspired granite columns frame the entrance, while the interior combines stone, wood, metalwork, and Tiffany glass.

Military Park and the city’s historic institutions

Military Park is one of the central places to visit in downtown Newark. It appears alongside the New Jersey Historical Society on the city’s historic walks, offering a useful starting point for exploring Newark’s civic and cultural past.

The area also brings together several important landmarks, including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and historic churches. Newark’s architecture reflects the city’s development from an early settlement into a major urban and industrial center.

Seated Lincoln and the Essex County Courthouse

Beside the Essex County Courthouse stands Seated Lincoln, a bronze sculpture created by Gutzon Borglum in 1911. Rather than showing Abraham Lincoln as a distant standing monument, the work presents him seated on a bench with his stovepipe hat beside him.

Borglum based the composition on accounts of Lincoln sitting alone in the White House garden to gather his thoughts during difficult moments. The larger-than-life figure has a quiet, contemplative expression and stands on a low stone platform reached by five steps. Borglum later became known for carving the heads of four United States presidents at Mount Rushmore.

The nearby Essex County Courthouse is itself a notable civic landmark, while Newark City Hall, Grace Church, and other historic buildings add to the architectural character of the surrounding streets.

Newark Abbey and St. Mary’s Abbey Church

Newark Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the heart of the city. It is one of only several urban Catholic monasteries in the country, making it an unusual place to encounter monastic life within a major American city.

The site appears on the Courthouse Hill and High Street route, together with St. Mary’s Abbey Church and other landmarks. This part of Newark offers a different perspective on the city’s religious history from the grand civic buildings downtown.

Newark Symphony Hall

Newark Symphony Hall is a historic performing arts center on Broad Street. Built in 1925 by the Shriners, it was originally known as the Salaam Temple and was often called The Mosque Theater. It took its current name in 1964 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The four-story neo-classical building was designed by Newark architect Frank Grad. Its exterior and interior include Greek and Egyptian motifs, marble columns, gold-leaf fretwork, a crystal chandelier, and two-columned side promenades. The complex also includes Newark Stage, a 200-seat black box theater, and the Terrace Ballroom.

Prudential Center and the Grammy Museum Experience

Prudential Center is a major indoor arena that opened in 2007. It hosts professional sports, university basketball, and major concerts, and by 2023 it ranked among the world’s five highest-earning concert venues.

The arena formerly housed the Grammy Museum Experience, the first Grammy Museum in the Northeast. Its exhibitions explored the history of the Grammy Awards, the recording industry, and New Jersey music. The museum closed on June 25, 2023, after the Grammy Museum Foundation reduced the number of its permanent locations. Prudential Center remains an important part of Newark’s music and entertainment scene.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Beside Branch Brook Park in Newark’s Forest Hill section, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart is one of the city’s most imposing landmarks. It is the fifth-largest cathedral in North America and the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

Construction began in 1899 and was completed in 1954. The original plan called for an English and Irish Gothic church, but the design changed to French Gothic, giving the finished cathedral its present character. Pope John Paul the Second celebrated evening prayer there during a 1995 visit to the United States, and the cathedral was elevated to basilica status during that visit.

The cathedral is one of the highlights of the Broad Street North route and also the starting point for a Neywo bus tour through Newark.

Historic churches and religious communities

Newark’s religious history is visible across several neighborhoods and traditions. Belleville Avenue Congregational Church, also known as Clinton Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, was built in 1874 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Its High Victorian Gothic design features rock-faced brownstone walls, light-colored stone trim, stained glass, and polished woodwork. The congregation was founded in 1822 and is recognized as Newark’s oldest Black church.

Bethany Baptist Church traces its congregation to 1870, when African Americans formed a church on Broad Street under the leadership of the Reverend Ebenezer Bird. The congregation describes itself as the first Baptist congregation founded by people of African descent. Its later building at 275 West Market Street was dedicated in 1976.

Other notable religious landmarks include Catedral Evangelica Reformada, originally known as Clinton Avenue Reformed Church; First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church; and Temple B’nai Abraham. The latter was established in Newark in 1853 and occupied its Clinton Avenue building from 1924 to 1973. The building has since served as a Pentecostal church and, since 2023, as a charter school.

Newark Liberty International Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport lies between Newark and neighboring Elizabeth and serves as one of the major gateways to the New York metropolitan area. Its routes reach Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and Asia.

The airport began in 1928, when Newark started building on 68 acres of marshland beside Port Newark and U.S. Route 1. Building One, dating from 1935, survives as a link with the airport’s early history and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The airport is also connected to the regional rail network through AirTrain Newark and Newark Liberty International Airport Station, where NJ Transit and Amtrak services operate.

Explore Newark with a free audio guide

Neywo offers four walking tours and one bus route in Newark, with narration available in 11 languages. Together, they cover 66 narrated places and let you choose the way you want to explore the city.

The four walking tours are:

• Four Corners to Military Park: Where Newark Began — 1.98 km, 71 minutes, 9 stops
• Lincoln on the Bench: Courthouse Hill and High Street — 1.98 km, 69 minutes, 9 stops
• Art, Books and Broad Street North — 3.9 km, 105 minutes, 10 stops
• Penn Station to Lincoln Park: Gold Domes and Grand Halls — 3.31 km, 99 minutes, 11 stops

The bus route is:

• Bus 41: Newark Cathedral to Symphony Hall — 12.5 km, 54 minutes, 11 stops

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Download Neywo and explore Newark’s historic streets, churches, museums, and cultural landmarks with the city’s stories accompanying you along the way.