Battery Park before you get on the ferry There is also a museum on Liberty Island. Between 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island was the first stop for nearly 17 million immigrants. All the ships from Europe stopped here. Many famous people came through Ellis Island Isaac Asimov Samuel Goldwyn, Rudolf Valentino, Sigmund Freud, Charlie Chaplin and Walt Disney. Today, you can take a ferry boat across the river and visit Ellis Island. Here, in the museum, you can see pictures of many of those immigrants. South Street Seaport is by the East River. It tells the story of New York, the sea, and the rivers. It is full of shops, restaurants, museums, and ships old and new.