Today I had the opportunity to explore 2 very historic landmarks of the American culture – The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Now both of these have very storied pasts. However to get to experience them first hand was very stirring. As I meandered through Ellis Island, I could only wonder if any of my ancestors came through there. To me history is very fascinating especially in light of the imaginative contemplation that occurs trying to mentally picture what things may have been like back then. Considering the mass of humanity that paraded through Ellis Island, it is no surprise that New York City is so culturally diverse and maintains diversity unlike any other city in the United States of America. Some interesting facts that I learned during this tour were that Ellis Island shut down in the 1950’s and lay in a state of disrepair until renovation began in the early 1980’s. At the peak of immigration in the late 1910’s and early 1920’s, ships from around the world would weeks to disembark their passengers due to the high volume of traffic. Also, Ellis Island expanded quite a bit over the early years of its use primarily from dirt excavated during the building of the New York Subway system.
The Statue of Liberty Tour was quite fascinating as well. Although we were only allowed to go to the Observation Deck at the base of the Statue, it was still fascinating to learn some interesting facts. First of all, the Statue was originally constructed in France piece by piece and then disassembled and shipped to New York. The ship carrying the disassembled statue almost sunk prior to arriving to New York. The face of the Statue was created in the likeness of the mother of the architect. One very amazing view was from within the statue looking up. You could see the extensive internal frame that supported the Statue. It was quite a contrast to what you see on the outside!
One side note was that it was COLD that day but very sunny. However, I would encourage everyone to take time to go see that as it is indeed 2 of the more famous pieces of American history.
