ELLIS ISLAND

Due to a blogger glitch and hours later, here is the end of our big morning in New York City and my favorite place so far. It's so full of history of which I will tell you just a bit...Ellis Island originally was the sight of Fort Gibson, one of a number of fortifications built just before the War of 1812 as part of New York City's first line of defense.

The other constructions included Fort Wood on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island.) The star shaped base that the Statue of Liberty's pedistal sits on is from the original fort), and Castle Clinton (remember the door picture?) which stood 300' off the shore of the Battery at the southern tip of Manhatten (now Battery Park). Castle Clinton (or Castle Garden as it became known for a while) served as America's imigration depot from 1855-1890.
On New Years Day of 1892 the first imigrant entered through the Ellis Island station and it was in operation until November 19, 1954 when it closed it's doors when it became too costly to run.This is a view of Manhattan through a window in the Great Hall or famous Registry Room, which is huge and majesticly beautiful with it's high arched ceilings and beautiful windows. You can almost imagine how noisy it must have been with the thousands of imigrant voices all speaking different languages echoing off the walls and ceiling! On it's first day of operation, 2,251 people were inspected on Ellis Island!