Often times, you’ll pass by thousands of people on a busy Manhattan day and never even notice them. You’re so busy working and living your life that you rarely have time to think about where they came from, or what brought them to New York City. Chances are half of the people you passed that day have some sort of roots to someone who came over to Ellis Island. Often regarded as a tourist spot, Ellis Island is a special place that literally allows you take a step back in time.
Located just minutes off of the Southern Tip of Manhattan, many of the cities residents have yet to take the quick ferry ride over to Ellis Island. If you’re one of these residents, then it is about time to go over there. It is a beautiful 27.5 acre site that takes you back to your family roots and quite possibly to ancestors that you might not know anything about. It’s believed that almost half of all the Americans living in the country have someone in their family tree that arrived via Ellis Island. That is quite an astounding number of people and you should really take the time to see if you were one of those people.
The museum itself is located in the main building of what used to be the immigration station. This is where the people coming into New York City were processed in from other countries. The museum offers self guided tours to show you where they stood and what took place. It explains how last names were changed because they couldn’t be understood, and how people left their old lives behind to start a new one here in the United States.
The wall of honor overlooks the Statue of Liberty and on that wall are the over 700,000 people that have come through those doors in search of a better life. It’s definitely worth the ferry ride to just glance at all the names, or possibly see a name that you might recognize.
Getting There
The Circle Line-Statue of Liberty ferry leaves from Battery Park everyday from 9am to 5pm. They offer extended hours in the summer to accommodate all the tourists as well. Your best bet is to plan the trip ahead of time to make sure you don’t have to wait in those long lines. Off season periods, such as winter and fall, are probably the best times to go to Ellis Island without running into hoards of tourists, although it’s still pretty busy year round. Taking a later ferry will also do wonders in alleviating some of the hassles you’ll encounter with early morning visits.
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