Liberty Crown Reopens To Tourists

NEW YORK — Some visitors to the Statue of Liberty have a special reason to appreciate Independence Day. They will have the freedom to go where no one’s been for almost eight years – Lady Liberty’s crown.

The crown is opening Saturday. It closed shortly after terrorists leveled the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Tickets for the July Fourth weekend sold out within hours. Thirty people an hour will be allowed into the crown. They will be brought up in groups of 10, guided by park rangers along the way.

New handrails have been installed to help with the climb. Bags, both big and small, are not allowed. Only cameras and cell phones are acceptable.

So far, about 14,500 tickets to the crown have been sold.

Those tickets do not include seven members of the U.S. armed forces who will become citizens of the United States in a special naturalization ceremony at the Statue of Liberty Saturday.

The seven join more than 47,000 non-citizens who have served in the military since 9/11 and have become U.S. citizens through special “fast-track” provisions.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute will administer the oath of allegiance to them and they will climb the statue’s crown.