Welcome back to National Parks & other public lands with T! If you are seeing this on Twitter or Facebook, please visit the blog to see all of the photos and read the story by clicking the link.
Visitors to Governors Island National Monument will pass through the historic Battery Maritime Building. It is located in Lower Manhattan, next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal.
This Beaux-Arts structure was built in 1909 to serve as the Municipal Ferry Pier. Since 1956, it has served as the ferry terminal to Governors Island.
At first used by the Army to access the military base on the island, management was assumed by the Coast Guard in 1966 when Governors Island became the largest Coast Guard base in the country.
In 1996, the Coast Guard moved its base to another location. In 2001, 22 acres on Governors Island, including two of the historic forts were designated a National Monument managed by the NPS. The remaining 150 acres were sold to New York City to be managed by the Trust for Governors Island. The Trust now manages the ferry terminal, shuttling visitors via a $3, eight-minute trip to the island, between May and October.
The Battery Maritime Building is constructed of cast iron, steel, zinc and copper. It was restored to its original appearance in the early 2000s.
To see my other Governors Island posts, please click below:
- Battery Maritime Building
- Soissons Landing and Castle Williams (Coming Soon)
- Liggett Hall (Coming Soon)
- Fort Jay and The Hills (Coming Soon)

Location: 10 South St, New York, NY 10005
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designation declared: 12/12/1976
Date of my visit: 9/11/2018
Pingback: National Parks USA Governors Island National Monument: Soissons Landing and Castle Williams
Pingback: National Parks USA Governors Island National Monument: Fort Jay and The Hills