This past weekend, Sam, Jake and I decided to take a trip to Ellis Island! Most of you know my infatuation with history, and I’ve promised you all a detailed post about my journey with ancestry (It’s coming! So much information to go through that I want to share with you all!) I thought taking the trip to the island would be a great way to explore the Sicilian side of my ancestry, since my great-grandfather immigrated here from Sicily, through Ellis Island, in 1893. My Dad has really specific memories of spending time at his grandparents house eating homemade pasta and tomato sauce from a giant pot under the veranda. My grandmother was his youngest child, and she passed away in 2015. I’m always looking for ways to find out more about this side of my family, so this seemed like a must see! I hadn’t been to Ellis Island since my 8th grade field trip, and let’s just say I needed a re-cap….
Joseph and Julia Bruno – My Great-Granparents (Both from Sicily.)
Based on my experiences on the island, here are some travel tips to have a successful day!
- Start your day early. ESPECIALLY IF IT’S A WEEKEND. I can’t stress this enough. If you’re planning in advance, book reservations for a ferry , so you can skip some of the line. We didn’t realize we needed to do this until the night before, so we arrived at the ticket booth by 9:00 am and ended up getting on a ferry within 15 minutes. So, don’t panic if you didn’t make a reservation (like I did….) and just get there early! Trust me – we saw the line when we got back that afternoon, and you won’t want to deal with it!
- Make the stop on Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty! We had all been on the statue before, but if you haven’t done it (and don’t mind heights…) I would recommend paying extra for that! However, the three of us had fun drinking the fresh lemonade, admiring the view, and taking pictures in front of the statue. It was a beautiful day to walk along the water and, honestly, the Statue of Liberty is such an emotional, and beautiful, monument. It’s worth it to see it up close!
- It’s super easy to catch the ferry over to Ellis Island from there. We started with the indoor movie at the museum. It was only a half hour – if you have kids who might not know much about the history, this is probably a good start! It’s a bit dated, but has interviews with immigrants who traveled through the island, and gives perspective if you don’t know a lot about it. To be honest, we probably didn’t need to see this portion of the museum, but it was a good rest for all of us!
- The ground floor of the museum has an exhibit called “Journeys: The Peopling of America 1550-1890.” Essentially, this portion of the museum covers all of American history that leads to the creation, and use, of Ellis Island. There are some interactive portions of the exhibit, such as timelines and paragraphs that read aloud to you. However, we found this part to be the least fun, as we were really looking to explore the time period of Ellis Island. However, if you have the time and aren’t as familiar with the history prior to Ellis Island, I would still check it out!
- If you don’t feel the need, or don’t have time, for the Early America exhibit, I would go straight to the second floor right to the Registry room. This is where the action is, and I found it to be the most fascinating. It has these gorgeous arched windows and, if you have a relative that passed through the Island, you know that this is the exact room where they all awaited to be inspected and, hopefully, allowed entry into the States. This floor of the museum has a lot of artifacts, dormitories, and photography from the time period. This was my favorite portion of the museum, and really is the reason for going!
- At Ellis Island, you have the opportunity to explore their own data base! However, if you live far away from Ellis Island, you can also check out their website: https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/oral-history-library ! This will allow you to do some research from home. At the museum experience, you pay $7.00 for a half-hour of research, something I was really looking forward to, until I realized I already knew most of the information I found on my great-grandfather. Plus, as Sam pointed out, the computer area made you feel like you were in your old middle-school computer lab from the sixth grade, and there were a lot of crowds. I recommend doing it anyway, especially if you don’t know much about your family who traveled through! I think it’s pretty amazing to know your family before entering the registry room hall that I mentioned above. It was cool to physically do the research from the museum and, although it needs updating, I still recommend checking it out!
Shirt is J. Crew, I’m wearing a large for reference! Backpack is by Victoria handmade (Which you can see more clearly in this post), Shorts are J. Crew, and I’m wearing these Jack Rogers!
To be honest, we had a perfect day! It was amazing to see the Statue of Liberty from the ferry, and from below. We had such great conversations about family history and what it must have been like waiting in the hall. If you’re traveling to New York, you can easily be back by mid-afternoon! A must see!
What are your Ellis Island experiences? Do you have family that traveled through the island?
