"We were herded there to be examined. My father referred to Ellis Island as the Palace of Tears because everyone was so fearful . . . " This was a quote from Euterpe Dukakis, Ellis Island, 1913, and it pretty much summarizes what most of our ancestors experienced, or those who had to come through this checkpoint.
As part of our New York City trip, we traveled to Ellis Island on August 28th and ventured into the museum of memories. We learned that the peak year of immigration had been 1907, when more than a million immigrants passed through Ellis, 12,000 of them on one day alone. Donita and I wondered about my great grandfather and what his experience had been, and the fact that he had changed his name when he arrived from Sweden. There was so much in this museum to see, that I think I could go beyond the 500 words to describe it. Needless to say, there is a lot of history at this location, and it continues to be a preservation point for future generations.