New York City Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour
- Connect the dots between cultures, communities, and continents as you examine the history of immigration in America
- Led by a historian
Tour Description
Icons of American liberty and freedom, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island have long been a mainstay of the New York skyline and its history. Stretching back to the Dutch colonial settlement in the early seventeenth century, Ellis Island became a place known for both heartache and joy, processing over 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954, with Liberty Island standing as a beacon of hope for many of these immigrants. On this Statue of Liberty Tour visiting Ellis Island and Battery Park in the company of an art historian or preservationist, we’ll visit both islands to understand how the American ideal of freedom has changed over the years, and how immigration and cultural exchange have profoundly impacted the entire country.
Please note: Guiding is restricted in both the Statue of Liberty Museum and the Ellis Island Museum. Your expert guide will provide information to enable you to fully appreciate these parts of the tour before visiting the museums and there will also be time for questions afterward. Furthermore, you may encounter long queues at security checks before accessing the boats, given a change in the organization of the aforementioned security checks.
About Context
Context is a network of scholars and specialists whose aim is to invite travelers off the tourist track and into the real life of the people, history, and culture of the world's greatest cities.
While over 80% of our guides have MA or PhD-level degrees in their fields of expertise, we live by the rule that learning isn't a finite activity. We're inquisitive about the places and people around us. We're inspired by conversations ripe with new perspectives and oft-untold stories. We don't play loose with the facts. Ours is the intellectual seeker's approach to the world: both in life and in work, we thrill at the potent possibility of "yet".
At day's end—we believe that travel is the ultimate form of education, one best served with a heaping side of meaningful interaction and memorable conversation.