Alexander Hamilton on his former perch atop the Death Rock.

Death Rock of Alexander Hamilton

Weehawken, New Jersey

Recollections of America's most famous duel of honor may weakly rattle around in the hindbrain of anyone who stayed awake during grade school history classes. But who were those guys again?

It was Burr vs. Hamilton -- and someone got killed.

Near a picturesque cliff along the Hudson River, overlooking the island of Manhattan, Aaron Burr did battle with Alexander Hamilton. The date was July 12, 1804.

It all started when the Presidential election of 1800 got gummed up, Bush vs. Gore-style, and Burr eventually landed in the VP seat. Like a whiny public radio commentator, Hamilton sought to undermine Burr with rumors and alleged slander. The two politicians, after a long skirmish of words, finally met on the riverbank below the cliffs and worked it out with pistols.

The actual rock "on which rested the head of Alexander Hamilton" after he was mortally wounded is now a monument. It turns out that while Hamilton was (as noted on the rock) a "Patriot, Soldier, Statesman, and Jurist," Burr was a guy from Newark with better aim.

In 1870 a set of train tracks was run through the old dueling grounds, so the rock was moved to its current lofty perch on Hamilton Avenue (a dead end street). On July 12, 1935, the current bronze head of Hamilton was perched atop the rock. It was later moved to an adjacent pillar where it's easier to see.

Just down the street from the Rock of Death is the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, named for another famous 19th century American politician who got shot.