Hard Hat Tours
Tour the abandoned hospitals on Ellis Island.
Go behind the scenes on a 90-minute guided Hard Hat Tour of the abandoned Ellis Island Hospital Complex—closed to the public for over 60 years. These exclusive tours are offered only by Save Ellis Island and provide rare access to the island’s forgotten history.
What You Need to Know
Tour Length: 90 minutes
Ticket Price: $55 per person (does not include ferry ticket)
Tour Times: Six tours daily
10:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM, 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM
Guides: Led by experienced, knowledgeable guides
Gear: Hard hats provided on-site
Where to Get Tickets:
– Or at the Information Desk on Ellis Island
About the Hospitals
Contagion sometimes found a home in the crowded third-class sections of ocean liners, with new immigrants arriving on Ellis Island with measles, tuberculosis, influenza, and a variety of other ailments. Others left their ports of departure with any number of health or medical conditions ranging from pregnancy to injuries to mental illness.
Anyone identified by the medical inspectors as unhealthy upon arrival would not be allowed to enter the country and would find themselves in the hospital complex. Here they were cared for in what was, in its day, a state-of-the-art complex.
In a place full of hope for a better life, the hospital buildings were islands of both sorrow and redemption.
A sense of both is evoked in the remarkable images pasted in the rooms and hallways, part of the current exhibit by French artist JR, titled Unframed—Ellis Island. The images draw visitors into a world that no longer exists. Rooms filled with quiet anticipation, the massive steel doors of the long silent autoclave, broken windows, half-open walls capture the stories of the Ellis Island Hospital, and the 1.2 million immigrants treated there.
“Fantastic tour - Our guide Barbara was really passionate and really good at sharing her knowledge - So amazing to discover all the JR art pieces along the visit as well - Thanks for this great experience!” ~ J. Dumas