Liberty Island

Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated in 1886. The island also contains the Statue of Liberty Museum, which opened in 2019 and exhibits the statue’s original torch.

Long known as Bedloe’s Island, it was renamed by an act of the United States Congress in 1956. Part of New York State, the island is an exclave of the New York City borough of Manhattan, surrounded by the waters of Jersey City, New Jersey.

Liberty Island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1937 through Presidential Proclamation 2250, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1966, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island.