Photos and Videos of the September 11th Memorial
Take a trip through opening day of the September 11th Memorial!
Screening Process
First, you enter the screening area at Albany St. and Greenwich Ave.
This area is the waiting area, and based on the time on your Visitor Pass, you will be sent to a numbered lane to wait. To enter the screening area, you will need to present your Visitor Pass, and you will need to show it to quite a few people as you go through the screening process.
I showed up about 15 minutes early, but didn’t enter the Memorial until probably 20 minutes after my reservation time, presumably because people were spending more time in the area and there is a maximum capacity to the Memorial grounds.
You will pass through a detour along the sidewalk that takes you inside the building on West St. which houses the metal detectors and baggage scanners. The screening procedure is easy and fairly standard – all metal objects go in to a plastic bin to go through an x-ray machine and visitors pass through a metal detector. Be sure not to bring anything from the list of unauthorized materials.
After exiting the building, you will walk along West St. to the Memorial’s temporary entrance.
Welcome to the September 11th Memorial
The September 11th Museum is scheduled to open in September 2012
The waterfalls are huge, and create a pleasing amount of white noise without being overly loud.
The plaza is filled with Swamp White Oaks which create patches of shade in the otherwise open area. Included among them is the 9/11 Survivor’s Tree, which is now planted to the west of the south pool.
1WTC is absolutely massive when viewed from this close. The Memorial boundary is at the north pool, which allows you to stand within about 300 feet of One World Trade Center, and it is already an imposing building at 80 floors.
The September 11th Memorial is an impressive space, and stands as an example of what the rebirth of Lower Manhattan will look like. September 12, 2011 is the day when it became clear that the area formerly known as “Ground Zero” has been transformed in to a space that will define the next phase of downtown living.
