Overview & visitor information
The Battery occupies the southern tip of Manhattan where the Hudson and East rivers meet New York Harbor. Fortifications gave the park its name, and the shoreline served as New Amsterdam's maritime edge before successive landfill projects extended the land into its present curved waterfront.
Castle Clinton began as an offshore fort in 1811, later becoming an entertainment venue, an immigration station and an aquarium. It now stands within the park as a national monument and the ticketing point for Statue of Liberty ferries, surrounded by paths leading to broad views of Governors Island and the harbor.
Perennial gardens, lawns, the SeaGlass carousel and memorials occupy the interior while a continuous promenade follows the water. The landscape connects ferry terminals and Lower Manhattan streets, so military, immigration and commercial histories remain visible within a contemporary public park still functioning as the city's maritime threshold.
