Liberty Island

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

A small fleet of ferries run between Battery Park, Liberty Island, and Ellis Island every day, shuttling visitors of the national monument between its two main locations.

We boarded Miss Liberty at Battery Park, and after going through airport-style security (understandable due to the statue's status as a national symbol), we were soon on our way across New York Harbor and heading towards the Statue of Liberty.

The inside of the boat was warm and cozy, with a small snack bar and plenty of seating, but Mom and I ascended the stairs to the upper deck. We wanted to have a great view of Lady Liberty as we crossed the harbor.

I have only been to New York City one time before. Twelve years ago, when I was in my Senior year of college, my mom took my siblings and me on a Spring Break trip to the Big Apple.

Hurricane Sandy, one of the most devastating storms in the nation's history with winds up to 110 mph, 233 deaths, and over $50 billion of damage, had recently hit New York, and the Statue of Liberty was one of the landmarks damaged in the storm. It was closed for repairs when we visited. We took a New York Harbor cruise instead, and I could only see the statue from afar.

 

This time, I was actually going to visit the Statue of Liberty, and I couldn't have been more excited! It's one of America's most iconic symbols, and somewhere I had been wanting to visit in person for most of my life.

About 25 minutes after boarding, the boat arrived at Bedloe's Island, also known as Liberty Island. Like millions of Americans over the past century, we got our first glimpse of Lady Liberty as we were making our way across the harbor.

Since 2007, Lady Liberty has appeared on the $1 coin. Even though I've seen her on coins and in photographs for all of my life, it was still an entirely different experience to see the statue in person with my own eyes.

Officially called "Liberty Enlightening the World", the statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States.

At the time, France had gone through a tumultuous period of alternating monarchies, empires, and republics, and looked to the United States as a symbol of republican stability and liberty. France, in turn, was considered America's closest and oldest ally. France was the first foreign nation to recognize United States sovereignty and was integral in America's victory in the Revolutionary War.

The brainchild of French artist and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the Statue of Liberty is made of copper. When it was unveiled in 1886, it was a bright, shiny brown like a new penny. By 1906, however, the statue's copper had oxidized and had developed its famous blue-green patina.

The statue is that of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. She holds a torch above her head and carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI, or July 4, 1776, the date of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. Her left foot treads upon a broken chain and shackle, which symbolizes America's victory in the Civil War just years before.

The original concept of Lady Liberty's torch as envisioned by Bartholdi, was a copper torch covered in a shell of gold and illuminated by floodlights. However, worries about electrical expenses at the time caused him to reimagine his design. Instead, he first tried to design a torch with cutout windows before finally settling on a stained-glass flame.

The original torch lit up the top of the statue until 1984, when nearly a century of weathering necessitated a renovation. With newer technology, the United States government, in honor of the original design, replaced the torch with a new copper and gold torch according to the original specifications. The older stained-glass torch now sits at the on-site museum on permanent display. Although there are stairs to the top of the torch, public access has been barred since 1916, and now the highest that most people are permitted is the statue's crown.

We had pedestal tickets, which granted us access up to the base of the statue. Crown tickets were more expensive. In hindsight, it would have been a good time to visit the crown as the monument was way less crowded than usual due to the cold weather.

We showed our tickets, went through security again, and were granted access to the statue's pedestal. While the statue of Lady Liberty itself was a gift from France, the pedestal was designed and built by the United States.

Instead of climbing up the steps of the pedestal, we took the elevator. Soon, we were looking out from 151 feet across New York Harbor.

From inside the pedestal, you can look up into the windowed ceiling to see the narrow double-helix staircase winding its way up to the statue's crown.

From the look of the metal scaffolding inside the statue, it's really no surprise to learn that the interior supports were designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel. I even quizzed my wife about this. I showed her this photo and asked her who she thought designed it. She got it on the first try. That's how recognizable his designs are!

As we descended down the stairs, we saw some of the gigantic bolts which attach the statue to its base.

It was lunchtime, but none of the junk food at the on-site canteen appealed to us. We browsed the giftshop, got our national park passport stamps, and queued up for the next ferry to Ellis Island, the second stop on our full-day national monument tour.