Ellis Island

(NYC: 18 April 2010) Not to be overshadowed by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island is part of the same boat ride/tour by the National Parks Service. The famous island was the destination for over 10 million immigrants from its opening in 1892 to 1924 when a change in immigration law allowed processing at overseas embassies. The fact that you dock, walk up the same sidewalk, and into the same building as did so many millions of courageous people, is humbling. Again we listened to a well done audio tour as we made our way through the building. The tour tries to put you in the shoes of an immigrant who probably saved for years to earn the passage, spent weeks and sometimes months on a crowded steamship, speaks another language and is coming here from a country where likely the police are bad people...only to be greeted by stern looking uniformed immigration officials...welcome to America! The tour takes you through the whole screening processing to include what it would be like to be separated if one family member was detained for any reason. Joy and I have both worked up our family genealogies recently and are 99% sure none of our relatives came through Ellis, but over 40% of American's currently living can trace at least one relative to being processed for immigration through this very building!