Ellis Island
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Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York, that was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. It has been part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument since 1965 and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is a national museum of immigration, while the south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open to the public only through guided tours.
Aerial view of Ellis Island
Ellis Island and Manhattan as seen from New Jersey shore in 2020
The bridge to Liberty State Park
Aerial view
New York Harbor
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New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of the United States.
Upper New York Bay highlighted in red. It is connected to Lower New York Bay on the south by the Narrows. Ellis Island (north) and Liberty Island (south) are shown in the northwest corner of the bay.
New York Harbor and Upper New York Bay (right), Hudson River (lower left), and East River (upper left) in April 2013
Wallabout Bay and East River (foreground), Hudson River (at right), Upper New York Bay (left) and Newark Bay in the distance in April 1981
New Amsterdam, 1660: early East River docks along left bottom; protective wall against the British on right. West is at top. (Castello Plan redraft)