National Monument · New York

Castle Clinton National Monument

Located at the southern tip of Manhattan, Castle Clinton marks the place where New York City began and reflects the growth of both the city and the nation. Built to defend the harbor during the War of 1812, it has since welcomed theatergoers, immigrants, and sightseers—and today continues to greet millions of visitors to New York Harbor.

About under an hour from New York by car.

Free to enter Open · 7:45AM - 5:00PM 1 visitor center

Photos: National Park Service

Fees & passes

Free. No entrance fee here.

Hours

Castle Clinton

Daily · 7:45AM - 5:00PM

Hours by date. Standard hours apply on every date not listed.

Dates	Hours
Standard hoursNow	7:45AM - 5:00PM
Nov 26, 2026Closed Thanksgiving Holiday	Hours not published
Dec 25, 2026Closed Christmas Holiday	Hours not published

When to go

Month by month, 1979 to 2025 →

July draws the most visits here and January the fewest, averaged over 2021 to 2025.

Bars are the average recreation visits in each month over 2021 to 2025. The line is the average temperature at New York Cntrl Pk Twr, 6 miles from the park's reference point at 130 feet, station USW00094728 in the NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals. The lower panel is monthly rain and snow from the same station, also 1991 to 2020 averages.

See every month and year since 1979.

Visitor centers

Castle Clinton NM ↗
Originally built as a fort to protect New York harbor, the building has changed to fit the needs of a growing city. The building has operated as an opera house, immigration depot and the New York Aquarium.

Limited data for this unit

No campgrounds, no webcams or things to do in Park Service data. What is here comes from the official page. The rest lives there.

Checked nightly. Modules appear as soon as the Park Service publishes the data.

At a glance

States: New York
Designation: National Monument
Coordinates: 40.7035° N, 74.0168° W
Visitor centers: 1
Visitors (2025): 3,656,350
Phone: (212) 329-9979

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31, at the park's reference point and its campgrounds. Terrain and trees change everything. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

All 9 links

Sister site

Campsite Atlas

Every campground on federal land, whether it takes reservations or is first come.

Open Campsite Atlas →

Sister site

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness

Every national wildlife refuge, wilderness area, national forest and BLM monument.

Open Wilderness Atlas →

Built from official data and refreshed daily. This site is independent and is not affiliated with the National Park Service. Confirm anything critical on the official park page before you travel. How the data is built

Explore

Films

Welcome to Manhattan Sites · 4.3 min · on NPS.gov ↗

New York City Aquarium 1896 · 2.9 min · on NPS.gov ↗

National Park Service productions, public domain.

Events

Castle Clinton Guided tour10/14
10:00 AM · runs through Nov 11 · free
Castle Clinton NM
Castle Garden Emigrant Depot Special Tour10/17
10:00 AM · free
Tours will begin inside Castle Clinton
The Last Adieu: Book Talk with Author Ryan Cole10/22
11:00 AM · free
Program will take place inside the walls of Castle Clinton and is free and open to the public.

News

National Park Service Selects Amy Sebring to Lead Manhattan Sites ↗2026-06-10
The National Park Service has selected Amy Sebring as the next superintendent of Manhattan Sites, a collection of nine national parks related to the American journey.

Map

Interactive map by the National Park Service

Historic landmarks nearby

All New York landmarks on Register Atlas →

National Historic Landmark · 1 mi

Ambrose (lightship)

New YorkOpen to visit

National Historic Landmark · 1 mi

Lettie G. Howard (schooner)

New YorkOpen to visit

National Historic Landmark · 2 mi

101 Spring Street

New York

National Historic Landmark · 4 mi

USS Edson (DD-946)

New YorkOpen to visit

Public land nearby

All of it on Wilderness Atlas →

Wilderness · 21.8 mi

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness

FWS3,660 acres

National Wildlife Refuge · 22.1 mi

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

FWS7,858 acres

National Wildlife Refuge · 28.8 mi

Congressman Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge

FWS3,382 acres

National Wildlife Refuge · 34 mi

Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge

FWS78 acres

Distances are approximate. Wilderness Atlas publishes a center point and an acreage for each area rather than a boundary, so each area is treated here as a circle of the same size and the figure is the gap to that circle.

Guidebooks for the Mid-Atlantic

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Best Hikes of the Appalachian Trail
Matt Willen, 2016
Find at Bookshop.org
Rail-trails mid-Atlantic
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org
Scenic Routes and Byways Middle Atlantic
Randi Minetor and Nic Minetor, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject.

Reference

Activities

Arts and Culture Guided Tours Junior Ranger Program Shopping

Weather & climate

Castle Clinton National Monument has a variety of weather. New York City has hot summers and cold winters. Spring can have heavy rains and Autumn can be cool. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=New+York&state=NY&site=OKX&lat=40.7198&lon=-73.993#.Vqj8OvkrJlZ

Questions people ask

Does Castle Clinton charge an entrance fee?

No. Castle Clinton is free to enter.

Source: National Park Service

What are the hours at Castle Clinton?

Standard hours are 7:45AM - 5:00PM, every day. Dated exceptions are listed under Hours.

Source: National Park Service

How busy is Castle Clinton?

3,656,350 recreation visits in 2025, number 25 of 387 units that report visitation.

Source: Most visited parks

Is there cell service at Castle Clinton?

At the park's reference point, FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G. Coverage inside the park varies by location.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

What is the weather like at Castle Clinton?

Castle Clinton National Monument has a variety of weather. New York City has hot summers and cold winters.

Source: Weather & climate

Follow this park

Alerts feed (RSS): Every active Park Service alert for this unit, one item each, rebuilt with the nightly data refresh.
Add dates to your calendar (.ics file): Fee-free entrance days that apply here and each published hours exception, as all-day events.