Best Ellis Island Day Trips & Things to Do

Millions of immigrants who came to America to find a better life traveled through this New York Harbor island and were greeted by the iconic Statue of Liberty. The popular tourist attraction's history includes providing a plentiful oyster supply in the colonial era to being a military defense fort before it was officially declared a federal immigration station in 1890. Ellis Island received an extensive $160 million renovation beginning in 1984 and was reopened in 1990 as a museum. Ellis Island Immigration Museum has two million visitors annually.