AROUND THE WATERS OF MANHATTAN

Staten Island Ferry

What was to become New York City was first seen by Giovanni Verrazzano, in 1525, as he sought a water passage to the Pacific. Approximately a century later, the Dutch East India Company, a private joint venture enterprise, sponsored an expedition hoping to discover a northeast passage over Russia. Instead, Henry Hudson aborted his contracted route and traveled west in search of a northwest passage. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into New York harbor at the helm of the Half Moon. Seeing a broad waterway before him, using wind and tidal flow, Hudson continued approximately 150 miles due north to present day Albany.

Centuries later, the Erie Canal provided an all-water link for goods and population to move between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Great Lakes. As a result, New York City, with its many protected harbors, became America’s prime seaport and the seat of world trade. 

 Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge

 World Trade Tower

 "Give me your tired, your poor..."

GW Bridge & NJ Palisades