Follow in the footsteps of over 12 million foreigners seeking roads paved with gold in the New World on this tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Explore these New York landmarks on a 3 hour semi-private guided tour, joining up to 8 people for a walk through time when America embraced immigration more than ever. The tour begins at Battery Park, one of the oldest parts of Manhattan. Here you’ll find the country’s first immigration center, Castle Garden Immigration Station, which operated until Ellis Island opened. Take a ferry to visit Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty keeps an eye on incoming ships. You’ll learn all about Fort Wood, which now acts as the base for the statue, offered to the US by France in 1886. You’ll hear all about its creator, Bartholdi, as well as contributions by famed architect Gustave Eiffel, of Tower fame. Another ferry will whisk you across the water to Ellis Island. Here, millions of European newcomers wandered the very island that you will visit, learning about the medical examines and surprising conditions faced by immigrants. Learn about the island layout, and where immigrants who were quarantined were housed. You’ll end at the Wall of Honor, where you can search for your family’s name among the some 700,000 names commemorating those who entered the United States here. After the tour, your guide will introduce you to the museum to further explore the exhibits and history of the island. This tour is the ideal way to remember, and celebrate, the immigrants that contributed so much to America’s success.

You will begin your tour at Battery Park, a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Here, you will briefly see the attractions and monuments that the park contains and learn all about its history as one of the oldest parts of Manhattan.

Before making your way to Liberty Island, you will learn about Castle Clinton, a landmark representing not only the city’s growth but the growth of the nation. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first U.S immigration station where more than 8 million people arrived in the United States between 1855 to 1890.

You will also pass the Seaglass Carousel, a fish-themed carousel that represents a symbol of recovery in the area, which suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. You will be able to appreciate the carousel’s design, as design along with construction took nearly a decade.

From here, you will board the ferry at the New York Harbour, part of the port of the New York. Lying at the mouth of the Hudson river, it is one of the largest natural harbours in the world.

You will make your way to Liberty Island, located just off the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Here you will see the infamous Statue of Liberty, the highlight of your trip. You will learn all about her history and how she came to be on the island.

Next you will visit Ellis Island, an island that contains a museum and former immigration inspection centre. It was the nation’s busiest immigration inspection station from 1892 to 1954.

During your time on Ellis Island you will see the American Immigrant Wall of Honour, a permanent exhibit of individual or family names. It is the only place in the U.S where an individual can honour his or her family heritage at a National Monument.