Over the years, I have had the opportunity to travel to many places and see many great things. New York has been one of my favorite cities to visit and I’ve been many times. On one of my trips, I decided to visit the Statue of Liberty.
The Statue was a gift from France and was dedicated on October 28th, 1886. The statue is a robed woman representing “Libertas”, the Roman goddess of freedom and stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. She bears a torch and a tablet and on the tablet is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an iconic symbol of freedom for the United States, as well as a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.
The funny thing about the statue is that after we received her as a gift, New York couldn’t afford to erect her until they raised enough funds. Many don’t know that Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco and Philadelphia were all vying for the statue and had the funds to erect it.
I don’t think the Lady Liberty would mean as much today if she weren’t in New York Harbor over-looking our greatest city.
To get to the statue you must first take a ferry ride that departs from the tip of Battery Park. This area is always a festive area because of the many tourists milling around. There are many street performers posing for photos and working for tips.
The guy below wears his silver suit and paints his face and hair every day to work for his tips. I think I gave him two dollars for the privilege of getting a picture with him and I had a stranger use my camera to take the pic.
I was surprised when he unfurled the flag and it stayed where it is in the picture with him just holding it with one hand and the pole doing the rest of the work. I wonder how long he did this before he figured out how to do this because it sure did make for a cool picture.
The ferry ride only takes a short time and then you arrive on Liberty Island. Along the way you pass Ellis Island which was the gateway for millions of people entering the country. It was the busiest immigration station from 1892 to 1954. Once on Liberty Island you get a real idea of just how big the statue is.
From the ground to the top of the torch it’s 305 feet and 1 inch. At the time of my visit, the inside was closed to the public because of the recent 911 tragedy so no one was allowed inside.
The trip to the top torch area to see out the windows of the torch has been closed for many years, dating back to July 30, 1916 when an act of sabotage by German spies during WW 1 damaged the arm with debris from a major munitions explosion on a nearby pier.
Visitors are still allowed to go as high as the crown if they make reservations in advance. Approximately 4 million people visit the statue and Ellis Island each year.
Of the many things I could have chosen to write about for my first article, I think I chose well when picking Lady Liberty. I hope you have enjoyed reading about the statue and maybe you learned something you didn’t know before.
I’m very proud to say I have visited her and would do so again just to go up to the crown and see the view from that area and take some pics of New York from that vantage point.
Check out more photos and video of the Statue and New York on my site.
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Spider Michaels