Ellis Island New York Harbor

Current estimates suggest that half of all Americans can trace their roots back to the ornate vaulted halls on this tiny 27-acre island off the tip of Manhattan, an immigration center turned National Park and monument to the American immigrant experience. Located immediately beside the Statue of Liberty, the island is accessible only via ferry and is still home to the arrivals hall and 750-bed hospital that greeted over 12 million third-class and steerage immigrants to New York a century ago.