TRIP TO LIBERTY ISLAND AND ELLIS ISLAND Our visit to Liberty Island and to Ellis Island took place on the first Monday of our
stay in New York City.
In the morning we went to school with our students and after participating to their
first two classes we left to catch the ferry, which took us to Manhattan. There we had
to get on another ferry which links the city to the small Liberty Island.
The theme of the day was the extraordinary stream of immigration that interested
New York and in general the US between the 19th and the 20th centuries.
Already during the voyage we could see the imposing size of the Statue of Liberty,
which welcomes visitors from the mouth of the Hudson River, and we suddenly
started thinking of the feelings of wonder, relief, but also concern that all the
immigrants could have felt at that sight.
Once we went ashore we headed for the Statue, which New Yorkers are used to
calling “Lady Liberty”.
LIBERTY ISLAND The Statue has a strong symbolical value; in fact every part of it has its own
meaning. For instance on one hand the statue holds a torch, which represents the
eternal fire of freedom, whereas on the other it has an open book on which is carved
the date of 4th July 1776, when the first unit of the United States was born. Also the
chains at its feet symbolize the liberation from the despotic rule. This work, to which
project also the creator of the Eiffel Tower took part, was a present from France to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Independence.
Firstly we took some pictures at the feet of the 93-meter-high masterpiece and
unwillingly we could not go to the top because after the terroristic attacks of the 11th
of September 2001 tourists are not allowed to enter the building.
Then we caught another ferry to reach Ellis Island, where, after lunch, we visited the
museum of immigration.
ELLIS ISLAND During the visit we could learn a lot of information about the story of the island,
which during the years of the immigration was the main entry facility for entering the
States. In1892 the first official immigration station was opened in Ellis Island and
until it closed in 1954 more than 12 million immigrants passed through it, with a peak
of entrances of one million in 1907. Nowadays thousands of visitors are attracted
here, also because more than 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to
these immigrants. We were also given the opportunity to analyze the stories of some
families of immigrants throughout their belongings, documents and pictures. It was
impressive to see how many people took the decision of leaving their hometowns
and families to begin a completely new life in a foreign country and in those
enormous halls where the immigrants used to be gathered you could still imagine all
their hopes and fears.
After the visit of the museum we caught again the ferries to arrive in Staten Island,
where our host families were waiting for us. “Lady Liberty” in Liberty Island The museum of immigration in Ellis Island
Group picture at the feet of the Statue of Liberty