Edit Castle Clinton and the Monument to the Immigrants

Address Battery Park, New York, NY, United States of America, 10004 Starting Address:

Opened as Castle Garden in 1824, the “castle” was originally built as a fortification against British naval aggression. The Garden was the setting for aristocratic flights of fancy; concerts, debutante ascensions, fireworks and ballroom displays of the latest trends in fashion. Displays of a different kind were seen when the castle was leased to the State of New York and became an immigration depot. Now known as Castle Clinton, after the State Governor, it was known in Yiddish as Kessel Garten and the images of thousands of freshly-landed immigrants milling about in confusion must have seemed like a chaotic hell. Closed in 1890 after a corruption scandal, the main immigration depot then became Ellis Island, the more famous of the landing spots to America. Since altered to house an aquarium and an opera stage, Castle Clinton today has been restored as a National Historic Monument. Musketed guards and period costumes patrol the walls of the fortress. A small museum in the basement includes a 3D model of the development of lower Manhattan’s skyline. A sculpture in the garden portrays a twisted nameless mass of humanity, a fitting monument to the immigrants who once had their first experience of America in this garden.