Writes of Passage

Island hopping in New York

… more pix on Google Maps, TA

… 2024.4.24: part of the text is missing …

This small island of 14 acres in New York harbor, at the southern tip of Manhattan. It’s world famous for its celebrated resident, the Lady Liberty. The statue can be seen from many places in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

I’ve been to the island in 1994 successfully and in 2017 unsuccessfully due to purchasing the wrong tickets at the site. This time, I used online agent from City Experience, which seems the official operator that takes you onto the island. The ferry is next to Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan.

Going there: from the ferry next to Castle Clinton

The Liberty Island ferry terminal (on the island)

The Island – more pix on Google Maps

It was known as Bedloe’s Island in the past. The famous resident Lady Liberty – the Statue of Liberty (a gift from French) was designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904), and the metal frame was done by Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) … yes, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was his work too.

The island is pleasant to walk. During our visit, the statue is closed for renovation. There are cafes and a museum – Statue of Liberty Museum was opened in 2019, is free to visit.

Statue of Liberty Museum – more pix on Google Maps

A nice little museum that is free, if you can get yourself onto the island.

New York

… more pix on Google Maps, TA

This circular sandstone fort is in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan, also known as Castle Clinton or Castle Garden.

Built in 1808, this landmark had held the immigrants before Ellis Island in the 19th century; and went on to serve as beer garden, exhibit hall, theater and reportedly, as an aquarium.

I often stop by when I’m in the area. It’s centrally located in lower Manhattan. Today I’m here to catch the ferry to Liberty Island on my island hopping trip.

New York

… more pix on Google Maps, TA

Although we still called it Battery Park, but it isn’t the destination as many other parks in the city, at least for me. Every time I went there, was passing through it to get to elsewhere.

It has 25 acre waterfront space at the southern tip of Manhattan, on the New York Harbor.

It’s surrounded, clockwise from left (west):

• Hudson River: W
• Battery Place: N
• Bowling Green: NE
• State Street: E
• New York Harbor: S

The park has:

• Castle Clinton
• ferries to Liberty Island, Ellis Island, & Governors Island
• restaurants and bars … The View & the Oyster House
• Pier A Harbor House a food hall
• monuments such as Korean War Veterans Memorial  (designed by Welsh-born artist Mac Adams (1943-),
• sculptures, gardens, etc.

140 Carder Rd
New York, NY 10004

Taco Vista is on Governors Island, very convenient locates to the ferry. We only have drinks, and leave after seeing the ferry emptied itself.

The city view is great but once sitting down, is blocked by the black wire fence.

After island hopping in Manhattan, I turned right and went to the Seaport.

Pier 6

Pier 17

1 Battery Park
New York, NY 10004

It’s on a nice location in the Battery / Financial district, on the water between South and Liberty ferries, with indoor and outdoor seatings.

As we walked in at 1:04pm on a Sunday, the girl was on the phone with a potential party customer. She makes no acknowledgment and continues her slow conversation. Two women before us left. A hand signal to say ‘I see you’ could go a long way. I turn around and take a few photos. It’s full six minutes before she said, “I’ll call you back.” Behind us there are two groups of people.

The service is ok. One of the young kid looks very nervous and is more than eager to take my plate away when I still have eggs and bread in it and my friend has half plate of pasta (they didn’t provide her with a spoon, so she uses her fork against the knife…).

Food is ok 西红柿炒鸡蛋. Their glasses are nice. They have two or more floors. A wedding is underway.

New York

… more pix on Google Maps, TA

The island was a military base, with 172 acres. It’s 800 yards (732m) from tip of Manhattan – a good distance for open water swimming ha ha ha – don’t think it’ll be reality bec too busy of traffic. The short ferry ride takes 10 minutes, ground to ground, and cost $4 round trip @ Beaux-Arts Battery Maritime Building (1909), east of South Ferry (the top floor is Cipriani’s event space)

We circled the island. There are many bicyclers (tri and quad), some are brought by the riders, some are rented on the island.

New York

… more pix on Google Maps: the Island & the museum; TA

This island is a stone throw away from Liberty Island. Actually we get there from Liberty, on the same ticket from CityExperiences.

The Island is pleasant to walk around, a cafe to take a break and a museum and library to visit.

“Prior to 1855, immigration arriving at the Port of New York were free to enter the US if their vessel was checked and cleaned for contagious diseases by the quarantine station at the entrance to New York Harbor. Between 1855 and 1890, approximately 8 million immigrants traveling through the Port of New York were formally processed at Castle Garden in Battery Park by NYS immigration officials.
After 1890, the federal government assumed responsibility for processing immigrants. All third class and steerage passengers bound fort the Port of New York were required to be inspected the Ellis Island Immigration Station, where approximately 12 million hopeful immigrants were processed between 1892 and 1945.”

The immigrants who had gone through here, estimates to be 40% of US population today.

My father in law’s grandparents were among them. However, with Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants was a fraction in numbers compared to that of Italian, German, Russian, and Irish, etc.: 300,000 Italian arrived in 1880s and an additional 600,000 in 1890s. In the decade after that, more than two million. By 1920, when immigration began to taper off, more than 4 million Italians had come to the United States, and represented more than 10 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population.

It was estimated that the facility could process 5,000 immigrants a day. The main building (rebuilt after 1897 fire) had won a gold medal at Paris Exposition in 1900.

P.S. Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, by Ava Chin (2023) is a good read.

The museum: exhibits, the hall and the library

The library

Three islands in one day, New York:

1. Liberty (14 acres)
   1. Castle Clinton
   2. Ferry terminal
   3. The View for lunch
2. Ellis (27 acres)
3. Governors (172 acres, zip 10004)
   1. Taco Vista

The following two videos are done by my phone:

…video #1

… video #2

It’s a lovely day, sunny, dry and cool. We start at Castle Clinton, lunch at The View @ Battery and a drink at Taco Vista on Governors Island. Walked 6.2 miles.

Liberty Island has the Statue of Liberty and a museum that was opened in 2019.

Ellis Island was the former immigration gateway on the east coast.

Governors Island was a former military base.

South Street