9. Castle Clinton

Castle Clinton, also referred to as Castle Garden (with both terms used in The Alienist), is where the second murdered boy is found. He lies on a glass window on the roof, and the team works to figure out exactly how the murderer got himself and the boy up there.

Castle Clinton, which still exists and is located in Battery Park, was the United States’ first immigration station, before Ellis Island. It was once originally a fort in the water, but with the infill of Manhattan, become encircled by land. It was converted into an aquarium in 1896, the year The Alienist takes place, so there are both verbal references and visual cues demonstrating this true fact. Castle Clinton also served as a pleasure garden, a concert venue, and exhibition hall. Today, it is a National Park monument and serves as the ticketing hall for Statue Cruises, the ferry that takes you to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

You can see take a tour of the abandoned hospitals on Ellis Island through us all year long:

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital