We arrived in Jefferson, NJ, on Oct 6th. With only 2 full days there, the 7th and 8th, we decided to spend a day visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and on the 8th, NYC and the 9/11 Memorial. Two very full days!
We stayed at The Mahlon-Dickerson Reservation in Jefferson with about an hour commute to Jersey City or NYC and had to take the jeep in as there are no commuter trains in the area. The ride in was not bad either morning but the ride home was ugh! We honestly don't know what we would do differently as there does not seem to be any way around it.
Regardless, we had two perfect days of great weather for walking around and saw some amazing sights of course. To get to Ellis Island we took a ferry from Jersey City. The ferry leaves from the old railroad station that used to take immigrants to their final destinations once they cleared Ellis Island.
On the grounds near the station is this moving memorial NJ erected to their citizens lost in the 9/11 terrorist attack. A few remnants of the buildings lie in a tumbled mass in front of a "tunneled wall" that faces directly across the bay where the twin towers stood:
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| the names of all of NJ's fallen are inscribed on the walls |
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| the old train station |
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| Ellis Island and behind you can see Lady Liberty's arm sticking up in the air on "top" of the building from her perch on Liberty Island on the other side. |
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| our ferry awaits with the Manhattan skyline in the back ground |
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| nearing Ellis Island in the ferry...... |
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| Lady Liberty behind us as we dock |
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| the main building has under gone extensive restoration and looks very nice |
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| The green is New York State, the surrounding Ellis Island is New Jersey. A compromise decided by the Supreme Court in 1998 with both state fighting over rights to the island because of location, technically, in Jew Jersey;) |
Upon arriving we were able to jump right in with a park service tour and got the whole scoop on immigrant processing through Ellis Island. 12,000,000 future Americans passed through here.
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| Annie Moore from Ireland was the first to step off, because the man in front of her was held back to allow "ladies first!" |
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| Many great photos of immigrants adorn the walls |
Years later, lots of people donated things to Ellis Island that they had brought with them from home
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| the hall filled with people waiting...... |
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| the hall today |
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| the court where hearings were held to determine if a suspicious person was fit, or able, to be processed. Please read below |
How can this beautiful welcome to a new land not stir emotion! When the statue was set on it's pedestal in 1886, it was the tallest structure in NYC-and the tallest statue in the world.
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| we had to hop back on a ferry to get over to Liberty Island and here we come around the front of Lady Liberty |
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| she is quite beautiful |
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| statue with Manhattan skyline |
Interesting views.
We were able to climb up into the pedestal which gave us a great perspective. Tickets, a first come first serve for the crown access, were all gone for the day when we arrived.
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| the spiral stairs to the crown |
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| She is 151 ft tall, the height from ground to torch is just over 305 ft |
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| this pic is from the base of the statue |
In the pedestal is a museum with some molds, models and pics of the assembling of the statue.
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| looking through the doorway into the museum a mask of Lady Liberty greets you |
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| returning to Jersey City on the ferry |
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