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O Explorador da Estátua da Liberdade

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Aventura de um dia inteiro na Estátua da Liberdade e em Ellis Island

A Staten Island Ferry não para na Liberty Island nem na Ellis Island.

1 · Start at Times Square

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  1. Welcome to Times Square. Our destination is the southern tip of Manhattan, where the harbor, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty ferries are waiting. The simplest way to get there is the 1 train, and it goes straight there with no changes. Head into the Times Square–42 Street subway station and follow the signs for the 1 train. Make sure you choose the downtown platform. To pay, simply tap a contactless bank card or your phone on the reader at the turnstile. A ride costs three dollars, and nobody pays more than thirty-five dollars in a week.

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  2. You're on your way. Stay on the 1 train for thirteen stops. You'll pass Penn Station, Greenwich Village and Tribeca, then the World Trade Center at WTC Cortlandt. Your stop, South Ferry, is the last stop on the line, so you can't miss it. When the train ends, everyone gets off.

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  3. Welcome to South Ferry. Follow the exit signs up to the street. When you come out, the big terminal building next to you is the Whitehall Terminal, home of the free Staten Island Ferry. The green park in front of you is The Battery.

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  4. You've made it to The Battery, a twenty-five-acre park at the very tip of Manhattan. Walk toward the round stone fort, Castle Clinton. That's where Statue of Liberty ferry tickets are checked, and the security line for the official ferry starts right beside it. If you'd like to see the Statue for free instead, head back to the Whitehall Terminal and ride the Staten Island Ferry.

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  5. This round sandstone fort is Castle Clinton. It was built between 1808 and 1811 on rocks just off the shore, to defend New York in the run-up to the War of 1812. It has lived many lives since. It was an entertainment hall called Castle Garden, with opera and theater. Then, from 1855 to 1890, it was the country's main immigrant landing station. More than eight million people entered the United States here, about two of every three immigrants in those years. Later it became the New York City Aquarium. Today it's run by the National Park Service, and it's where your Statue of Liberty journey begins.

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  6. Walk to the water's edge and look out across the harbor. That green figure in the distance is the Statue of Liberty, on Liberty Island, about one and a half miles away. Her copper skin was once a shiny reddish brown. Over the years it turned green, and by 1906 the green patina covered the whole statue. To the right of the Statue, you may also see Ellis Island, where about twelve million immigrants were processed between 1892 and 1954.

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  7. Our walk ends back by Castle Clinton, beside the security screening for Statue City Cruises, the only official ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands. Remember: the time on your ticket is when to join the security line, not when the boat leaves. Lines can take an hour or more at busy times, and there are no lockers here, so leave big bags at your hotel. Enjoy the islands!

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  8. Welcome to Liberty Island. Your ferry ticket includes the island, the Statue of Liberty Museum and Ellis Island. To go inside the pedestal or up to the crown, you need a pedestal or crown ticket. Let's walk around and meet the Lady.

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  9. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States. The sculptor was Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. Inside, an iron framework engineered by Gustave Eiffel holds up a copper skin only about two and a half millimeters thick, roughly the thickness of two pennies. The statue was taken apart in France and arrived in New York on 17 June 1885 aboard the French ship Isère. She was dedicated on 28 October 1886, with President Grover Cleveland in attendance.

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  10. Look closely. In her left hand is a tablet inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI, the fourth of July, 1776, the date of the Declaration of Independence. At her feet lie a broken chain and shackle, commemorating the end of slavery. From the ground to the tip of her torch, she stands about three hundred and five feet tall.

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  11. The statue rises from a granite pedestal designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt. The money to build it was raised by Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World. Underneath is Fort Wood, an eleven-pointed, star-shaped fort completed in 1811. Pedestal ticket holders can climb to the pedestal's observation level. Crown ticket holders climb one hundred and sixty-two steps from the statue's feet to the crown, and there is no elevator to the crown.

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  12. Look up at the torch. Visitors haven't been allowed up there since 1916, after the Black Tom explosion. The torch you see today was installed in 1986, and its flame is covered in twenty-four-karat gold. The original torch is waiting for you inside the museum.

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  13. The Statue of Liberty Museum opened in May 2019, and entry is included with your ferry ticket. Inside you'll find the statue's original torch, an immersive film and interactive galleries. Near here you'll also find Emma Lazarus's famous poem, The New Colossus, on a plaque engraved in 1903.

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  14. Your visit to Liberty Island ends at the ferry dock. General admission tickets also include Ellis Island, so check the signs at the dock for the ferry to Ellis Island. Thanks for exploring with VoyGlobe.

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  15. Welcome to Ellis Island. Between 1892 and 1954, about twelve million immigrants passed through this island on their way into the United States. Today the main building is the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, and entry is included with your ferry ticket. Imagine arriving here by boat after weeks at sea, with everything you own in a bag.

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  16. The first federal immigration station here opened on New Year's Day, 1892. The very first immigrant registered was Annie Moore, a seventeen-year-old girl from Cork, Ireland. That first wooden station burned down in 1897, and the building you see today opened in December 1900.

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  17. Immigrants entered on the first floor, in the Baggage Room. Many had to leave their belongings here before going upstairs to be inspected, carrying hope and worry in equal measure.

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  18. Upstairs is the Registry Room, two hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, with a ceiling fifty-six feet high. This is where people waited to be inspected. The beautiful vaulted ceiling of Guastavino tiles was installed by 1918, after the 1916 Black Tom explosion damaged the roof.

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  19. Every arrival faced two checks: a medical inspection by doctors of the Public Health Service, and a legal inspection by immigration officers. Only about one percent were sent back.

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  20. Over time, the rules changed. A 1917 law introduced a literacy test. After the Immigration Act of 1924 set strict quotas, far fewer people came through here, and the island was used more and more for detention and deportation. Ellis Island closed on 12 November 1954.

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  21. The main building reopened as a museum on 10 September 1990. Outside, the Wall of Honor lists the names of immigrants submitted by their families. Visitors can also look for their own family's story here.

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  22. Take a last look back at the Registry Room before you leave. Millions of American families began right here. When you're ready, head back to the ferry. Thanks for walking in their footsteps with VoyGlobe.

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