Abandoned Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour

Tour Highlights:

• Discover the history of Ellis Island's little-known hospital complex, once the standard for U.S. medical care
• Explore buildings usually off-limits to the public that have been abandoned since 1954
• See what life was like in the hospital as you enter the laundry building, the contagious disease wards, the autopsy rooms, staff houses, and more

Your tickets include: Round-trip ferry tickets to and from Ellis Island, access to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, and an exclusive hard hat tour inside the abandoned hospital. 

Presented in partnership with Save Ellis Island

Please Note: You will need to be at the ferry terminal (Castle Clinton, Manhattan or Liberty State Park, NJ) at least 2 hours prior to the start of the tour to go through airport-style security and board the ferry to Ellis Island.

About This Tour:

Explore the abandoned Ellis Island Hospital complex, once the standard for United States medical care and later transformed into a US Coast Guard base and FBI detention center. It has been left to decay for nearly 60 years. Now, Untapped New York partnered with Save Ellis Island to create an exclusive behind-the-scenes hard hat tour of the abandoned hospital. On this experience, you will discover the laundry building, contagious disease wards, autopsy rooms, staff house, and so much more as you walk in the footsteps of the immigrants who were there a hundred years ago. While exploring the buildings, you will also see several life-size photographs of immigrants pasted on the walls of the abandoned buildings. They are part of JR’s exhibition “Unframed – Ellis Island”.

The 29-building South Side hospital complex is hidden in plain sight, just to the left of disembarking passengers headed towards the Great Hall. Looking at its desolate, skeletal frame now, it’s difficult to imagine its backstory as one of the largest public health undertakings in American history. Join us for our upcoming Ellis Island hospital tour, guided by a Save Ellis Island docent, where we’ll uncover its many, buried secrets.

Save Ellis Island is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise the funds needed to rehabilitate and repurpose the twenty-nine historic buildings on the south side of Ellis Island for a new and exciting purpose. Your tickets directly contribute to the restoration efforts, so thank you!