Castle Clinton
— — the round fort that has been everything.
Not only on a wall.
“A sandstone fort at the southern tip of Manhattan, built between 1808 and 1811 against a British return that never came. It later worked as a concert hall, the country's first immigration station, an aquarium, and now the ferry ticket office for Liberty and Ellis Islands. About four million people pass under its arches each year. — from the studio
Castle Clinton, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Castle Clinton stands at the southern tip of Manhattan in Battery Park, a circular red sandstone fort built between 1808 and 1811 on a small artificial island about 200 feet off the shore. Landfill connected it to Manhattan in the 1850s. The structure measures 200 feet across with eight-foot walls and was designed to hold twenty-eight cannons. The National Park Service has administered the site as Castle Clinton National Monument since 1950. About four million visitors pass through each year on their way to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferries.
The fort has changed use roughly every generation. Renamed Castle Garden in 1824 after the War of 1812, it became a roofed concert hall and hosted Jenny Lind's American debut on September 11, 1850. From 1855 to 1890 it served as New York's immigration station, processing more than eight million arrivals before Ellis Island opened in 1892. The New York Aquarium occupied the building from 1896 to 1941. Robert Moses pushed to demolish it for a Brooklyn-Battery bridge approach; preservation activists led by Albert Bard saved the walls, and Congress made it a national monument in 1946.
The monument opens daily from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m., free of charge. Statue City Cruises operates the ferries to Liberty Island and Ellis Island from the dock behind the fort; ticket windows inside Castle Clinton are the only authorized point of sale. National Park rangers offer free interior tours on the half-hour during summer months. The 4 and 5 trains stop at Bowling Green one block north, and the 1 train ends at South Ferry directly across State Street. Bring identification for the ferry security screening.