South Side!

I've waited three years to take a tour of the south side/not renovated part of Ellis Island. AND YESTERDAY IT HAPPENED!

Matt and his sister Sue joined me for the tour organized as part of the Open House New York weekend.

The closed part of the island (technically called islands 2 and 3) contains the hospital, power plant and staff buildings. We weren't able to go into the main part of the hospital, which is the building you can see from the museum. But we were able to see the newly renovated ferry terminal, and unrenovated staff building and isolation wards. Very cool! It was amazing and heartbreaking to think about the immigrants who sailed for weeks and were then unable, at least temporarily, to continue their journey.


Staff house














long breezeways and later enclosed hallways connected isolation wards. But in the next photo you can also see that the hallways curved in parts because of the belief that it was harder for germs to travel around corners.





















the view of hope from one of the isolation wards
















I just liked that this said 'rubbish'




























notice the tiled walls and floor. Initially rooms didn't have tile but one of the medical advancements of the time was the discovery that it was easier to sanitize rooms if they used tile






























the hood of the oven in the kitchen. There were multiple kitchens on the various islands again in an effort to prevent the spread of disease.