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Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty
On Saturday, October 16th, 2004, we took a day off from visiting Marlene's Italian relative's in Lodi, New Jersey and drove down to the Ferry landing and took this Ferry over to Ellis Island where all of Marlene's relatives landed in the early 1900's. This was also the sight of the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal in the 1800's where all the immigrants came after Ellis Island to catch trains to various destinations.
These 2 pictures are of the Great Hall at Ellis Isl. In this hall the immigrants all sat in wooden chairs in rows and waited to be processed. Some had to spend the night, some were put into the hospital next door and others got to leave the 1st day.There was also some rejects because of poor health that were deported.
These are 2 of the pictures we liked from the many displays in Ellis Isl. Left is Italians in Napoli with their belongings going to the emmigrant office to emmigrate to America. At right is an advertisement encouraging immigrants to come to California where there is room and land for millions and no cyclones or blizzards. The Park Service guide said that a large portion of the immigrants were Italians, and that they also did most of the work to build the subways in New York. There was also a promotion luring immigrants to help rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake.
The Statue of Liberty was beautiful beyond words ! Of course it was sculpted by an Italian !! We were able to go to the top of the pedestal and also go on the inside of Lady Liberty. They let us look up into the cavity and we saw how it was constructed and also the spiral steps that go to the top, no one is allowed to go there. The middle picture taken from the boat. As we entered the pedestal they have the original torch on display. It was about 2 stories high. It is supposed to be the tallest statue in the world. Scuptor Bartholdi's philosophy was that it would inspire a feeling for the idea that it interprets as big as it's size. From the Ferry we were able to get a beautiful picture of the New York Skyline. This is the Manhattan area, it houses the rich institutions and also houses on it's East side, the poor tenament sections that our immigrant ancestors lived in.
This is a picture Marlene took from the Ferry as we approached. It is a very pretty and ornate building.

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