On day 56 of “The Ultimate USA Road Trip” we drive through three states from Cape May in New Jersey via Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to “The Big Apple” in New York State. Before leaving Cape May we make a short visit to “Five Mile Beach” for a photo of the Wildwood Board Walk and Beach Balls, this is a popular place to visit. Wildwood's boardwalk was dubbed "America's last really great honky-tonk boardwalk at the shore" by the late architect and pop culture historian Steve Izenour, who studied and wrote about the Wildwoods' unique American heritage.

We drive on state roads to Pennsylvania where we visit the Independence National Historical Park, this is a federally protected historic district that preserves several objects related to the American Revolution and the founding history of the nation. Managed by the National Park Service, the 55-acre (22 ha) park consists of many of Philadelphia's most-visited historic sites in the Old City and Society Hill neighborhoods. The park is nicknamed "America's most historic square mile" because of its many historic sites.

The centerpiece of the park is Independence Hall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were discussed and adopted by the American founders in the late 18th century. Independence Hall was the main meeting house of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787. Adjacent to Independence Hall is Carpenters Hall, where the meeting for the First Continental Congress took place in 1774 and Congress Hall” the meeting place of the US Congress in 1790.

Across the street from Independence Hall is the Liberty Bell, an iconic symbol of American independence, at the Liberty Bell Center. The park contains other historic buildings such as the First United States Bank and the Second United States Bank. The park also contains “City Tavern”, a recreated colonial tavern, which was a favorite of the delegates and which John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States from 1797 to 1801, considered to be the best tavern in all of America.

Most of the park's historic features include Franklin Court, the site where Benjamin Franklin's home once stood and the current site of a Franklin Museum and the Postal Service Museum of the United States and Independence Hall. , collectively known as “Independence Mall” and containing the “Liberty Bell Center,” “National Constitution Center,” “Independence Visitor Center,” and the former home of the president.

We ride the Highway to the next stop the Feltville Historic District, located on the Watchung Reservation in Berkeley Heights. It is located In about 1736, Peter Willcocks built a sawmill along the Blue Brook to produce timber, which farmers would need when they settled in this frontier area. The sawmill has cut down hundreds of hectares of forest.
In 1845, David Felt bought 760 acres of land and built a printing house along the stream. He built an entire town on the bluff above the stream to support the mill, and by 1850 Feltville was home to 175 people. After Felt retired in 1860, other business ventures were attempted but failed, and the town soon became deserted.
In 1882, Warren Ackerman bought the property and turned the former mill town into a summer resort, named Glenside Park. When the popularity of mountain resorts was supplanted by the arrival of the Jersey Shore, Glenside Park closed in 1916.
Shortly after the Union County Park System was established in 1921, this area was incorporated into the Watchung Reservation, one of America's first county parks. The grounds of the abandoned village are open every day, from sunrise to sunset. The district includes eight more houses, a church, a coach house and a general's house from the 18th century. Over the years, the "abandoned village of Feltville" has been a mill town, farming community, and summer retreat. Only three families remain as permanent residents. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 6, 1980. The Visitor Center is open Saturdays and Sundays (and most holidays) from noon to 5 p.m.

The next stop is planned at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island is a federal island in New York Harbor that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. Today it is part of the Statue of Liberty and is only accessible to the public by ferry. On the north side of the island is the main building, now a national immigration museum. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is only open to the public through guided tours.

In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a maritime magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines and immigrant processing. After 1924, Ellis Island was primarily used as a migrant detention center. During both World War I and World War II, the facilities were also used by the United States military to hold prisoners of war. After the closure of the immigration station, the buildings languished for several years until they were partially reopened in 1976. The main building and adjoining buildings were completely renovated in 1990.

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. The copper statue, a gift from the French people, was designed by the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and the metal frame was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The statue is a figure of Libertas, a cloaked Roman goddess of liberty. In her right hand she holds a torch above her head and in her left hand she carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals), the date of the United States Declaration of Independence. A broken chain and chain lie at her feet as she walks forward, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery. After its dedication, the statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, seen as a symbol of welcome for immigrants arriving by sea.

The statue was maintained by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. A limited number of visitors can access the edge of the pedestal and the interior of the statue's crown from the inside; public access to the torch has been blocked since 1916.

After a short drive we reach the end of the beautiful route; New York City! There is a toll when entering New York. There are no tolls when leaving New York. Since January 2023, tolls are cashless and cash toll payments are no longer accepted. More information about the New York Toll System can be found at the links in this review.

This city has an unprecedented amount to offer to its visitors, so it is definitely advisable to plan a few days to explore this city. The metro system is very extensive and takes you easily to all sights. Recommendations are;

• Central Park, located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth largest park in the city, covering an area of 341 hectares. It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million annual visitors as of 2016, and is the most filmed location in the world.

• National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six. The memorial is located on the grounds of the World Trade Center, the former site of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise funds for, operate the memorial and museum on the site of the World Trade Center.

• The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of New York State. The building has a height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and is 1,454 feet (443.2 m) in total, including the antenna. The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world until the first World Trade Center tower was completed in 1970; after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was New York City's tallest building until surpassed in 2012. As of 2022, the building is the ninth-tallest building in New York City, the eighth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, the 54th-tallest in the world, and the sixth-tallest free-standing structure in America.

• Rockefeller Center is a large complex of 19 89,000 square foot commercial buildings located between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, the 14 original Art Deco buildings span the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, separated by a large sunken plaza and a private street called Rockefeller Plaza. Later additions include 75 Rockefeller Plaza across 51st Street on the north side of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style buildings on the west side of Sixth Avenue. In this area there are mainly offices, shops and restaurants.

• Times Square also known as "the Crossroads of the World", "the Center of the Universe", "the heart of the Great White Way", "the Center of the Entertainment Universe", and "the heart of the world" . It is an important commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan. It is formed by the intersection of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Together with the adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped space five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets. It is brightly lit at all times by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as companies offering 24/7 service. One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the center of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, attracting an estimated 50 million visitors annually. About 330,000 people pass through Times Square every day, many of them tourists, while more than 460,000 pedestrians pass through Times Square on the busiest days. The Times Square-42nd Street station is consistently ranked as the busiest station in the New York City Subway system, serving more than 200,000 passengers daily.

• The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across from Central Park, the museum complex consists of 26 interconnected buildings with 45 permanent exhibit halls, in addition to a planetarium and library. The museum's collections contain more than 34 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and astrophysical data, only a small fraction of which can be displayed at any given time. The museum occupies more than 2×106 square feet (190,000 m2). AMNH has a full-time scientific staff of 225, sponsors more than 120 special field expeditions per year, and averages about five million visits per year.

• Governor's Island is a 70-acre island in New York Harbor. It is about 732 m south of Manhattan Island and is separated from eastern Brooklyn by the 370 m wide Buttermilk Channel. The National Park Service manages a small portion of the north end of the island as the Governor's Island National Monument, including two former military fortifications named Fort Jay and Castle Williams. The Lenape native originally referred to Governor's Island as Paggank ("nut island") because of the area's rich collection of chestnut, hickory, and oak trees; it is believed that this space was originally used for seasonal foraging and hunting. The name was translated into Dutch Noten Eylandt, then anglicized to Nutten Island, before being renamed Governor's Island towards the end of the 18th century. The island was used by the military and as a U.S. Army post, and served as a training ground for troops, though it also served as a strategic defense point during wartime. The island then served as a major United States Coast Guard installation until 1996. After its decommissioning as a military base, it was sold to the public in 2003 and opened for public use in 2005. Governor's Island has become a popular destination for the public, attracting over 800,000 visitors per year as of 2018. In addition to the 17-acre public park, Governor's Island includes free arts and cultural events, as well as recreational activities. . The New York Harbor School, a public high school with a maritime-focused curriculum, has been located on the island since 2010. Accessible only by ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan, the island offers stunning views of the New York skyline.


New York has a lot to offer and there are hotels in different price ranges, so there is always a good place to stay. Keep in mind that not all hotels offer parking facilities, so do research what the best overnight stay is.