The Statue Of Liberty and Ellis Island

While we were in New York, we knew we wanted to see the Statue Of Liberty. And when we found out that the tour would take us to Ellis Island too, we were super excited! As a homeschooled kid, I get to read pretty much whatever historical fiction I want, and when I was about 13-14, I went through a phase where I learned all I could about immigrants. It was very interesting to me, so I was excited to see the place where so many of the immigrants came to America!

While we were waiting for our boat, we got a picture with one of the people dressed up as the Statue of Liberty.

The wait for the boat was kinda boring.

But the view from the boat was quite pretty.

The tall building below is the new Freedom Tower. The height of the flat part at the top is the same height that the Twin Towers were. If you add the height of the spike on top, it is 1776 (the year the Declaration of Independence was signed) feet tall.

When we arrived on the island, we received our audio tour things, which you held up to your ear like a phone.

Dad had gotten us tickets to the Pedestal, so we were able to climb up almost to the Statue’s feet! It was so cool!

After walking around and seeing the sights from up there, we walked back down (it felt shorter than the way up).

We took a couple of pictures at the bottom (Mom had to lie on the ground on her back to get this photo!)

After that, we headed for the Statue’s museum. This is the actual size of Lady Liberty’s face.

And her foot.

And her ear.

This is actually the original torch from the Statue! They had to replace it because it got cracked or something (I don’t remember that part).

After we were done with the Statue Of Liberty we headed to Ellis Island.

The most powerful part of Ellis Island was visiting the Great Hall. They actually had benches that you could sit on like the immigrants did while they waited to be told if they could stay in America or not. We all sat there and tried to feel what it would be like to have others make such a momentous decision about your life. We were told 2% of immigrants were denied and were escorted immediately out and onto a boat that would return them. I tried, but I can’t really imagine how that would have felt.

While we were there, four military helicopters flew over, circled the Statue of Liberty a few times, and then left. We have no idea why. But having just left the 9/11 Memorial, it was creepy/cool.

Outside there are walls and walls of names of the actual immigrants who passed through Ellis Island.

And of course, you could see the Statue from Ellis Island. A lot of people who immigrated as young children later wrote that although they remembered little of their trip, they never forgot the first time they saw The Statue of Liberty welcoming them to America.