Liberty Island Activities:

Visitor Information Station: You may pick up a brochure and view a short video chronicling the story of the colossal Statue of Liberty. You will learn about the day's schedule of events and review the ferry departure times. Your National Park Service Passport Validation Stamp is available as well. 

Join us for a ranger program! Visitors may meet at the Liberty Island Flagpole (see any uniformed ranger or officer for directions)for Park Ranger-led Tours. The program lasts 45 minutes. The unique experience explains the conception, construction, and restoration of one of the world's greatest monuments.  Additionally, one will learn about island land history and the New York harbor environs. Park Rangers will provide answers to many questions you may have. Perhaps you will have an opportunity to reflect upon what liberty means to you personally. Tours are free and our daily schedule is posted at Information Center.

Put Yourself on a Pedestal! Why not? Access to Pedestal: Lobby, Promenade, Museum, Fort Wood and the 10th Floor Pedestal Observation Level ("Monument Access" must be printed on your ferry ticket): Inside the lobby visitors can experience the original torch, the Statue of Liberty Exhibit, then proceed to the promenade area for an up close view of the statue and a spectacular view of New York Harbor. Visitors can stroll the 11-point star-shaped Fort Wood and take an elevator to the ten-story pedestal observatory. People can get a full circle view of the harbor and a close-up view of Lady Liberty.

Park Ranger-guided tours of Liberty Island are periodically offered with ASL - American Sign Language translation. Tours will begin at 11:00 and last about 35 minutes. Our 2009 ASL Tour schedule is as follows: August 22nd, September 26th, October 24th, November 21 and in 2010 first tour is on May 22nd.

Audio Tours: are also available. These take visitors around Liberty island - and for those with a Monument Ticket, have an inside component.
There are also new children's audio tours- specially designed for ages 6-10 with animal character narrators.
The children's tours are available English, Spanish, French, Italian and German. 
The main tours are available in English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Japanese. The cost is $8.00 per adult, $7.25 for seniors/children 12 years and under.

Food & Gift Concessionaire: the Evelyn Hill, Corp. operates a food and gift concession on Liberty Island. For complete information or to contact them, call: 212 363-3180.

Museum Exhibits

Statue of Liberty Exhibit: The Statue of Liberty is more than a monument. She is a beloved friend, a living symbol of freedom to millions around the world. This exhibit is her biography. It is a tribute to the people who created her, to those who built and paid for her, to the ideals she represents, and to the hopes she inspires.

The Statue of Liberty exhibit, located on the second floor in the pedestal of the Statue, traces the history and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty through museum objects, photographs, prints, videos and oral histories. The exhibit opened in July 1986. In addition to historical artifacts and descriptive text, full scale replicas of the Statue's face and foot are also on display. The main historical sections include: From Idea to Image, Fabricating the Statue, Stretching Technology, Fundraising in France, The Pedestal, Fundraising in America, and Complete at Last. The next area focuses on the symbolism of Liberty with sections titled Mother of Exiles, Becoming the Statue of America, Century of Souvenirs, The Image Exploited and The Statue in Popular Culture.

The Torch Exhibit: The Torch Exhibit includes the original 1886 torch and much altered flame in the lobby. On the second floor balcony overlooking this torch is a display on the history of the torch and flame, explaining the various alterations through diagrams, photographs, drawings and cartoons.

The "New Colossus": Famous sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. A bronze plaque, dedicated in memory of Emma Lazarus' contribution to the completion of the Statue's pedestal, has been affixed to the inner walls of the pedestal since the early 1900's. This plaque, currently located in the Statue of Liberty exhibit, has come to symbolize the statue's universal message of hope and freedom for immigrants coming to America and people seeking freedom around the world.

Click here to read the "New Colossus". View "New Colossus" bronze museum plaque.