Experience America's Best Idea National Park Getaways A New
National Park Getaway Every Wednesday Part of Statue of Liberty
National Monument New York & New Jersey On January 1, 1892, a
teenage girl stepped off a boat onto an island in New York
Harbor and walked into the history books. Annie Moore, an
immigrant from Ireland, was the first person to be processed
through the new immigration station at Ellis Island. Today, you
can walk in Moore’s footsteps at this one-time gateway to the
United States. Ranger-led and audio tours invite you to imagine
leaving your belongings in a pile of luggage and climbing the
steep stairs to the cavernous Registration Room. There, doctors
carefully watched ascending immigrants for signs of any
debilitating diseases. At the top of the stairs, doctors
performed a quick physical exam, sorting out who was healthy and
who needed closer inspection in the hospital. Those who passed
the exam would then wait in line, sometimes for hours, to face a
battery of questions to determine if t