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It was more because I could, as in the ferry taking me back to the mainland from visiting Lady Liberty stopped there, rather than by plan that I arrived on Ellis Island. I did waiver slightly about whether or not the next ferry would get me back to the city in time to return to my hotel and change for pre-arranged dinner plans, but the pull to see something else in New York City was too great so I took a chance on being late. I didn’t regret the decision!
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Ellis Island is a place where many of today’s American’s will be able to trace their roots back to. Even though a non-American, walking through the museum and looking at the exhibits and photographs, reading journal entries, etc was very interesting. Previous to the visit I assumed that people arrived across the Atlantic on boats, and were welcomed with open arms. This apparently wasn’t the case, and Ellis Island was a place where all would-be immigrants were processed for acceptance into America.
There were guidance rules in place and until an immigrant could prove that they fulfilled the necessary criteria they were kept on the Island – this could mean they needed to regain their health having suffered an illness during the long ocean crossing, or even in some cases find a man to marry (single women weren’t allowed to leave Ellis unless it was to return on the next ship back to where they’d originally come). |
Even the statistics of the countries of immigrant origin and where they went once they left Ellis are set out in a way that’s interesting to look at and easy to understand. Even though I did little more than wander around the museum, I came away with a lot of knowledge about the lengths people had to go to in order to gain access into America. I wasn’t late for my dinner date – and I don’t even remember where we went to eat – but I remember many aspects of the museum at Ellis Island and hope one day to revisit this fascinating place.
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