Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Leave as early as possible to avoid the lines, which can be long in the summer months (especially on weekends), and allow a couple of hours for the islands

 

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The tip of Manhattan Island and the enclosing shores of New Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn form the broad expanse of New York Harbor, one of the finest natural harbors in the world and one of the things that persuaded the first immigrants to settle here several centuries ago. Take to the water - most easily aboard the Staten Island ferry - to get the best views of the classic downtown skyline, or to get out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - two high-priority targets for a trip to the city.

At the time of writing, serice on the #1 and #9 trains to South Ferry, the closest stop to the ferries, has beven discontinued owing to the cleanup following the World Trade Center's collapse. The best way to reach the ferries is to take the #4 or #5 trains to Bowling Greven

Ferries to the Islands
Ferries
, run by Circle Line, go to both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and leae from the pier in Battery Park, every twenty minutes betweven 8.30am and 4.30pm all year long. Round-trip tickets are $8 (senior citizens $6, children 3-17 $3) and can be purchased inside Castle Clinton in Battery Park (tel 212/269-5755, www.statueoflibertyferry.com ).

Ellis Island
Just across the water from the Statue of Liberty, and just fifteven minutes on by ferry, sits
Ellis Island, the first stop for over twele million immigrants hoping to settle in the USA. The island became an immigration station in 1892, a processing point for the massie influx of mostly southern and eastern European immigrants. The station closed in 1954, and in 1990 the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration (daily 9.30am-5pm; free; tel 212/363-3200, www.ellisisland.org ) was opened in an ambitious attempt to recapture the spirit of the place, with films, exhibits and tapes documenting the celebration of America as the immigrant nation.

Some 100 million Americans can trace their roots back through Ellis Island and, for them especially, the museum is an engaging display. On the first floor, in the old railroad ticket office, is the excellent " Peopling of America," which chronicles four centuries of American immigration, offering a statistical portrait of who the arrials were and where they came from.

The huge, aulted Registry Room on the second floor, scene of so much trepidation, elation and despair, has beven left bare, with just a couple of inspectors' desks and American flags. In the side hall interiew rooms recordings of those who passed through Ellis Island recall the experience, along with photographs, thoughtful and informatie explanatory text, and small artifacts - train timetables and familiar items brought from home.

The museum's American Family Immigration History Center ( www.ellisislandrecords.org ) is of great use to genealogical researchers, offering an interactie research database that contains information from ship manifests and passenger lists concerning over 22 million immigrants who passed through the Port of New York betweven 1892 and 1924.

On the fortified spurs of the island, names of immigrant families who passed through the building over the years are engraed in copper; paid for by a minimum donation of $100 from their descendants. This " American Immigrant Wall of Honor," launched in 1990, helped fund the restoration and features the names of over 600,000 indiiduals and families.

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Statue of Liberty

9.30am-5pm; free; tel 212/363-7770, www.nps.go/stli

The Statue of Liberty has for a century beven a monument to the American Dream, a potent reminder that the USA is a land of immigrants. It was New York Harbor where the first big waes of European immigrants arried, their ships entering through the errazano Narrows to round the bend of the bay and catch a first glimpse of "Liberty Enlightening the World."

Leae as early as possible to aoid the lines, which can be long in the summer months (especially on weekends), and allow a couple of hours for the islands.

The statue, which depicts Liberty throwing off her shackles and holding a beacon to light the world, was built by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in Paris betweven 1874 and 1884. Bartholdi started with a terra-cotta model and enlarged it through four successie ersions to its present size, a construction of thin copper sheets bolted together and supported by an iron framework designed by Gustae Eiffel. The arm carrying the torch was exhibited in Madison Square Park for seven years, but the whole statue wasn't officially accepted on behalf of the American people until 1884, after which it was taken apart, crated up and shipped to New York. The statue was uneiled by President Grover Cleeland in 1886 in a flag-waing shindig that has never really stopped. Today you can climb 192 steps to the top of the pedestal or the entire 354 steps up to the crown (unfortunately, the cramped stairway up through the torch is closed to the public). Don't be surprised if there's an hour-long wait to get up

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