South Ferry (Manhattan)
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South Ferry is at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City.
South Ferry is the embarkation point for ferries to Staten Island (Staten Island Ferry), Liberty Island, Ellis Island and Governor's Island, the latter currently for access to the United States Coast Guard base there only. Nearby are Castle Garden and Bowling Green.
South Ferry is well served by subways, including:
- South Ferry on the 1 (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
- Whitehall Street–South Ferry on the N R W (BMT Broadway Line)
- Bowling Green on the 4 5 (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) (some Lexington Avenue Line trains went to South Ferry until 1977)
South Ferry also hosted a four-track elevated terminal with access to all Manhattan elevated train lines running up Second, Third, Sixth and Ninth Avenues. These lines were closed in stages from 1938 to 1955.
The origin of the name South Ferry is probably one of the more misunderstood trivia, even to most New Yorkers. One would suppose that it is so called because it is at the southern tip of Manhattan, and it hosts ferries. In actuality, it was the name of the South Ferry, one of several ferries named for the street at whose end the ferry slip resided (in this case South Street). The ferry connected to the foot of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad (later part of the Long Island Rail Road) through the Cobble Hill Tunnel. In addition, South Ferry was the name of the Brooklyn landing and ferry house of the aforementioned ferry.
