If you’re departing from the New York side, you’ll hop on a Statue City Cruises ferry at Battery Park in lower Manhattan. If ...

Tours of Ellis Island hospital, shuttered since 1954, will open in October. Here, Ellis Island is seen behind Liberty Island in December, 2009.

Most Ellis Island visitors only get to see the main building. The hard hat tour takes small groups through the massive, unrestored hospital complex on the island's south side.