Description
Battery Park, officially The Battery, is the green tip of Manhattan, facing New York Harbor: lawns and trees, a promenade by the water, old monuments and ferries leaving for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The park is bounded by Battery Place, Bowling Green and State Street, with the harbor to the south and the Hudson River to the west. Ferry terminals, among them the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal, are right beside it.
The main attraction is Castle Clinton, the round fort at the heart of the park. Built for the War of 1812 on an artificial island just offshore, it never fired a shot, and went on to be a theater, an immigration station and an aquarium.
Walk the harbor promenade for views of the water, Governors Island and the Statue of Liberty. The park also holds memorials, among them the East Coast Memorial and Peter Minuit Plaza, and gardens planted by the Battery Conservancy.
The boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island leave from a launch at the park, so many visitors pass through before or after the crossing. It is also a quiet place to sit on a bench and watch the harbor traffic.
Near the water, the SeaGlass Carousel has glowing fish that recall the old aquarium.
As Castle Garden, from 1855 the fort was the first immigration depot of the United States, and some 7.7 million people entered America through its doors, until the job moved to Ellis Island in 1892. By then landfill had joined the fort to Manhattan, inside a new park.
The name comes from the artillery batteries the English set up here in the 17th century, by the fort of what had been Dutch New Amsterdam. In 1776 American troops fired from here on British ships sailing up the Hudson, in vain.
In the 1820s the fort became an entertainment destination and promenade, with a theater in it. Since 2015 the park has gone back to its old name, the Battery.
The park is bounded by Battery Place, Bowling Green and State Street, with the harbor to the south and the Hudson River to the west. Ferry terminals, among them the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal, are right beside it.
The main attraction is Castle Clinton, the round fort at the heart of the park. Built for the War of 1812 on an artificial island just offshore, it never fired a shot, and went on to be a theater, an immigration station and an aquarium.
Walk the harbor promenade for views of the water, Governors Island and the Statue of Liberty. The park also holds memorials, among them the East Coast Memorial and Peter Minuit Plaza, and gardens planted by the Battery Conservancy.
The boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island leave from a launch at the park, so many visitors pass through before or after the crossing. It is also a quiet place to sit on a bench and watch the harbor traffic.
Near the water, the SeaGlass Carousel has glowing fish that recall the old aquarium.
As Castle Garden, from 1855 the fort was the first immigration depot of the United States, and some 7.7 million people entered America through its doors, until the job moved to Ellis Island in 1892. By then landfill had joined the fort to Manhattan, inside a new park.
The name comes from the artillery batteries the English set up here in the 17th century, by the fort of what had been Dutch New Amsterdam. In 1776 American troops fired from here on British ships sailing up the Hudson, in vain.
In the 1820s the fort became an entertainment destination and promenade, with a theater in it. Since 2015 the park has gone back to its old name, the Battery.