Liberty State Park
Liberty State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City opposite Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. Statue Cruises provides ferry service from the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal to Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
The park is the largest in Jersey City, the largest urban park in the state, the most visited New Jersey state park and one of the most visited state parks in the United States with approximately 4.5 million visitors each year as of 2025.
The main part of the park is bordered by water on three sides: on the north by the Morris Canal Big Basin and on the south and east by Upper New York Bay. The New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay Extension, which is part of I-78, marks its western perimeter.
Geography
Communipaw Cove is part of the state nature preserve in the park and is one of the few remaining tidal salt marshes along the Hudson River estuary.The Nature Center, designed by architect Michael Graves, is part of the preserve. To the west lies the Interior Natural Area, which is off limits to the public and is being allowed through natural processes to recover from environmental abuse.
At the center of the park, 240 acres have been fenced off and contaminated with hazardous materials, such as chromium, arsenic, and petroleum. The six acre train shed is also fenced off and contaminated with asbestos.
History
Much of the park is situated on landfilled tidal flats. In the latter half of 19th century, a small island named Black Tom was joined via landfill with the mainland. It became a major shipping, manufacturing, and transportation hub within Port of New York and New Jersey, leading to the construction of Communipaw Terminal. It was from this ferry/train station that an estimated 10.5 million immigrants, roughly two-thirds that were processed at Ellis Island, entered Jersey City to spread out across the United States. In 1916, on what is now the southeastern corner of the park, the Black Tom explosion killed as many as seven people, caused $20 million in property damage, and was felt throughout the Tri-State Region.The park was conceived in the 1960s. with the land transferred from the city to the state in 1965. Jersey City residents Audrey Zapp, Theodore Conrad, Morris Pesin and J. Owen Grundy were influential environmentalists and historians who spearheaded the movement that led to the creation of Liberty State Park. They are remembered by the naming of places and streets along the waterfront.
It is estimated the park suffered $20 million in damages during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. In June 2016, the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal reopened after a $20 million renovation to repair the extensive damage caused by Sandy. The Nature Center reopened in June 2021.
On January 11, 2018, it was announced by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that the interior of the park that have been closed off to the public for decades due to hazardous material and severely contaminated land would be remediated for the entire community to safely enjoy. The restoration is to be done in phases with the initial phase focusing on a parcel of the interior. There is currently no firm timeline yet for the remediation but the funding is to come from natural resource damage settlements. Work was slated to begin in 2021 and ultimately began in 2023. In 2024, the NJDEP announced an additional $7.3 million the continued revitalization efforts.
Points of interest
Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal
On the northern most shore of the park is The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal. The terminal operated from 1889 to 1964 and also served the Central Railroad of New Jersey-operated Reading Railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad. An estimated 10.5 million immigrants that were processed at Ellis Island entered the United States through the station. Today, it serves as a museum and ticket office for ferry service to Ellis Island and Liberty Island which operates from the Hudson River side of the terminal.Freedom Way and Liberty Walkway
Liberty Walkway, a crescent-shaped promenade, stretches from the CRRNJ Terminal along the waterfront south to the Statue of Liberty overlook, bridging two coves along the way. It is part of the longer Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. Halfway along Liberty Walkway is a bridge to Ellis Island, but only authorized vehicles are allowed.The southeastern corner of the park contains the Statue of Liberty overlook, picnic facilities, a playground, the U.S. Flag Plaza and Liberation Monument, the Public Administration Building, and a memorial to the Black Tom explosions. Picnicking and barbecuing facilities are also located at the southern end of the park. Originally called "Liberty Walk", this part of the project won a landscape award in 1995.
Liberty Science Center
, which lies in the western portion of the park, is an interactive science museum and learning center. The center opened in 1993 as New Jersey's first major state science museum. It has science exhibits, the world's 5th largest IMAX Dome theater, the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, numerous educational resources, and the original Hoberman sphere, a silver, computer-driven engineering artwork designed by Chuck Hoberman. The museum also houses naked mole-rats.Monuments and memorials
Liberation is a 1985 bronze sculpture designed by Nathan Rapoport as a memorial to the Holocaust, showing a U.S. soldier carrying out a survivor from a Nazi death camp.La Vela di Colombo is a two-story sail-shaped bronze monument designed by Gino Gianetti that commemorates the 500th anniversary of the westward journey of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492. The "Sail of Columbus" sits atop a stone base in the shape of a ship and features scenes of Columbus and his travels. The gift from Government of Italy and the City of Genoa was dedicated in 1998.
Empty Sky is the official state memorial to the September 11 attacks of the World Trade Center. Situated on a berm the parallel walls engraved with the names of victims are oriented to face the former World Trade Center site. Designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz, it was dedicated on September 10, 2011, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks.
A temporary monument designed by Zaq Landsberg called Reclining Liberty was displayed adjacent to Empty Sky May 2022 until April 2023. The monument, which shows the Statue of Liberty lying on her side, was previously on display in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park where it received attention from Time Out and Gothamist. It was inspired by reclining Buddha statues in Asia as its intended meaning is to reconsider the meaning of the United States which, like the Statue of Liberty, is as Landsberg describes "an entity forever upright and tall."
Liberty State Park Conservation, Recreation, and Community Inclusion Act
The administration of Governor Chris Christie proposed various commercial activities for the park. In 2017, it suggested leasing large parts of the waterfront for private marinas.Caven Point is a 22-acre man-made piece of land and sits adjacent to the Liberty National Golf Course. It is the only sandy beach along the shoreline and home to various migratory birds. Proposals to protect the land have been made in the New Jersey Legislature such as the Liberty State Park Protection Act to specifically protect the park from all development without a severe vetting process and public scrutiny.
That proposal has been rejected by both the senate and the assembly for its exclusion of the surrounding community. The Liberty State Park Conservation, Recreation, and Community Inclusion Act was passed in July 2022 with and as a result of the local community feeling it had been left out of the conversation for decades would now be a part of the decision making within this park. The Liberty State Park Conservation, Recreation, and Community Inclusion Act establishes a 17-member Liberty State Park Design Task Force within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to assist with developing short-term plans to improve public use at the park. In 2023, the Commissioner of the NJDEP, Shawn LaTourette, assured the public that while active recreation facilities will be added to specific areas of the park, they will not be for-profit private facilities.
Transportation
's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail runs just to the west of the park. The park is served by the West Side Avenue–Tonnelle Avenue and 8th Street–Hoboken Terminal trains at the Liberty State Park station at the park's western entrance. The park is also served by the 16 NJ Transit Bus route at the station.The park is served by the Liberty Landing Ferry with service to Liberty Harbor in Downtown Jersey City at Warren Street and Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan.
Since 2024, a free shuttle bus service, provided by EZ Ride, operates on weekends and holidays from April to November connecting various points of interest within the park to Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and NJ Transit Bus service at Liberty State Park station and ferry service at Liberty Landing. Prior to this service, a pay-to-ride NJ Transit shuttle service operated at the park from 2000 until 2010. In July 2012, NJTPA allotted $175,000 to study transportation alternatives to and within the park.
In May 2013, a new pedestrian bridge, the "Ethel Pesin Liberty Footbridge", named after the late wife of the state park's founder Morris Pesin, was placed over Mill Creek at the Morris Canal Basin to replace an older one that had been destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. The new bridge reconnected the northwestern edge of Libery State Park with Downtown Jersey City and was situated so as not interfere with any new road construction.
Image:Liberty State Park Bridge over the Morris Canal Basin, Jersey City NJ 20250511-jag9889.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Liberty State Park Bridge over the Morris Canal Basin
The park is accessible by car via several local roads and the New Jersey Turnpike at Exits 14B and 14C. In March 2013, Jersey City received a $500,000 grant to study the extension of Jersey Avenue directly into the park, to simplify access from the Downtown neighborhoods, facilitate through traffic to and from Communipaw, and provide alternatives for Turnpike users to access Downtown Jersey City.
In 2014 NJDOT announced that it would build a $10 million bridge over the Morris Canal Basin, reducing the commute between the park and Downtown Jersey City by more than half a mile. Construction of the connection between Jersey Ave and Phillip Street began in August 2019; the two-lane road with adjoining bike lanes and sidewalks was opened to traffic in August 2021. Since the opening, residents have complained about safety concerns and an increase in traffic congestion due to Holland Tunnel-bound traffic connecting to I-78 through the park. Prior to the bridge, the Mayor Steven Fulop announced the city administration is experimenting with traffic light timing and collaborating with navigation service Waze to reduce congestion.