Ellis Island.

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New York. We arrived in New York at 6AM but port authorities did not give clearance for people to disembark until 8AM. Every single passenger has to get off the ship irrespective if you had decided to go into New York or not. This is to complete immigration clearance. Then you are free to go exploring or have to wait in the passenger hall to re-board the ship. Hundreds of people were disembarking & there were five hundred getting on to do the world cruise. We have been to New York many times but there was one place I had missed because we spent so much time at the Statue of Liberty we did not have time to visit Ellis Island. We caught the ferry over waited for everyone to get off & then we got off at Ellis Island. Bearing it was -6 C the wind felt extremely cold & was burning our cheeks. Once we were inside it was lovely & warm. First things first though we visited the café & had a nice cup of warming coffee. We then toured the building taking note of the exhibitions as we walked around. Ellis Island. The island has been used for a variety of purposes. Immigration processing It alsi was used as a Fort, a recruiting centre, a naval base & a detention centre. Ellis Island was the first place that that approximately 12 million immigrants were processed on arrival in the United States. They were medically examined & paperwork formalities completed & were either accepted or denied entry & deported. Ellis Island is made up of 3 islands two were in New Jersey & one with in the New York boundaries. It was built 126 years ago in 1900 although had been in use since the 1700’s. It is close to Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is cited. The Island had its own hospital wing where patients who were ill on arrival were kept & treated. They slept in 3 tiered bunk beds. There was a contagious disease hospital, admin offices, a bakery, a kitchen, carpentry shop, laundry, power house & an incinerator & a mortuary plus staff accommodation. In the main building there is a huge hall where the new arrivals waited in lines to be processed by an immigration officer. On the first day alone 2251 immigrants were processed. As more & more immigrants arrived they had to stay on the boat they came on before they could be processed. As immigration slowed down it was then turned into a detention centre finally closing in 1954. After much planning & arguments it came under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Service. The buildings fell into disrepair. It finally opened its doors as a museum in 1990. We spent a few hours on Ellis Island & found the exhibitions fascinating and would highly recommend visting. The photo shows the hige immigration processing hall. Immigrants would queue up waiting their turn to be processed.