Liberty Island: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Statue of Liberty National Monument
Nowak L and Matthews L. 2025. Liberty Island: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Statue of Liberty National Monument. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650003. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
landscape setting for the monumental Statue of Liberty. The Statue was designated a National Monument in 1924 and administered by the U.S. War Department until it was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) in 1933. However, in 1927 the entirely of Liberty Island came under NPS management. Public access to the island is by way of ferries departing from Liberty State Park in New Jersey and The Battery in lower Manhattan. Along with Ellis Island to the north and Governors Island to the east, Liberty Island represents one of three prominent island landmarks of the harbor. The most dominant feature and the most significant cultural resource on the island is the sculpture by Auguste Bartholdi, Liberty Enlightening the World, better known as the Statue of Liberty. The Statue and its masonry pedestal sit within the walls of former Fort Wood, a star-shaped, 11- pointed granite fort built between 1808 and 1811. Visitor and administration facilities are concentrated in the western end of the island. These include a covered boat pier, visitor orientation/administration building, concessions building, gift pavilion, and maintenance and facilities structures. The largest structure is the new Statue of Liberty on the northwest corner of the island Museum, finished in 2019. Landscape features include two intersecting pedestrian avenues (the approach mall and the main mall), a flag plaza, the Statue lawn, and treed southwest and northeast lawn. A brick promenade extends along the perimeter of the island and encircles the statue. The perimeter paths offer broad views of the Manhattan skyline and neighboring Ellis Island, New Jersey’s Liberty State Park, the towers of Jersey City, as well as New York Harbor, the Narrows, Staten Island, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Nowak, Lisa; Matthews, Laurie
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , STLI
- Keywords
- American Exploration and Settlement, Archeology, Architecture, Art, Bedloe's Island, Changing Role of the U.S. in the World, Colonial Exploration and Settlement, Conservation, Construction, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Engineering, European Influences 1876-1920, Expanding Science and Technology, Expressing Cultural Values, Historic Designed Landscape, Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Movement, Historic Site, Historic-Non-Aboriginal, Immigration and Emigration Policies, International Relations, Kennedy’s Island, Liberty Island, Oyster Island, Painting and Sculpture, Peopling Places, Period Revivals (1870-1940), Politics/Government, Prehistoric, Prehistoric Archeology: Topical Facets, Prehistoric Settlements And Settlement Patterns, Social and Humanitarian Movements, Social History, Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, Statue of Liberty National Monument, Technology (Engineering and Invention), The Federal Government Enters The Movement, Transforming the Environment