
Interesting fact: The first immigrant to come through Ellis Island was 10 year old Annie Moore from Ireland.
Well-known immigrants: Frank Capra, Xavier Cugat, Max Factor, Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, and Rudolph Valentino
Ellis Island was opened as a museum in 1990. Since that time they have developed a geneology center that helps visitors track their relatives through ship manifests and institution records. Visitors can gain a first hand account of what the rooms in Ellis Island were like, where immigrants stood waiting to be recorded in ledgers and checked out by physicians before being given the OK to go into Manhattan, and items from the period that were used by and for immigrants and the officials who managed the facility.
The museum is extremely vast and they have so much information to take in that I would suggest donating the better part of a day to going there if you don't have young children who might be bored after an hour or more. It truly is amazing to think of how many people came through Ellis Island and all the trials they went through to get to America.
Tickets for Ellis Island are also sold at Castle Clinton in Battery Square Park along with the tickets to get to the Statue of Liberty. They begin at $12.00 for adults.
Ellis Island
New York, New York 10004
(212) 363-3200
Take the 1 to South Ferry Station, the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green Station or the R/W to Whitehall Station
You can also get to both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey by the New Jersey Ferry. Purchase tickets for the New Jersey Ferry from Central Railroad Terminal Building and Museum in Liberty State Park.
Also be sure to have a sweater or jacket in late spring or fall because the boat ride can get really chilly! If you want to draw some connections between the immigration to America and the next stop for many in their new country check out the Lower East Side Tenement Museum!
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