The Staten Island Ferry is one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City. The views are iconic, the ferry is orange, there’s a snack stand on board, and the ride is free— what more could a tourist possibly want?

However, the majority of tourist riders pivot on their heels and catch the next boat back to Manhattan. Willow, no tourist, resolves that a true New Yorker like herself ought to actually leave the terminal and see at least a little bit of this part of her city.

Willow loves being on the ferry. It’s the only mass transit access to Staten Island, which makes her feel like she’s really going somewhere. And it’s cooler on the water, with Manhattan at her back.

At the terminal on the Staten Island side, Willow finds a tourist information center and a friendly tourist-helper directs her to the Lighthouse Museum, one of the attractions she learned about in her Google search.

It’s a bit of a walk on a very hot day, but she manages to find it.

It’s closed.

When she peers in the window she can see a man in a cap staring at a computer screen in the dark. She checks the hours: it should be open. Then she sees that it says it’s closed for a “special event.” She wonders if perhaps either the website or the tourist-helper might’ve mentioned that the museum was closed.

On the way back to the ferry landing, she passes a man who asks how to get to the Lighthouse Museum. He is dismayed to hear that it’s closed. He says he is photographing all the lighthouses in the New York area, and only has two more to go: today he’s after Robbins Reef Light, of which Willow has never heard. He says he’s been told the best sight of it is from the ferry, but he wants to ask about it at the museum, so he says he’ll go over there anyway. Willow doesn’t try to dissuade him. She decides she’ll look for the lighthouse on the ferry ride back.

The next place Willow’s heard is worth a look is the 100-year-old Borough Hall. At the entrance she has to pass through a security checkpoint, where the guard asks, “What are you doing here?” She’s here to see the Depression-era murals, depicting Staten Island history. “Ok,” says the guard. “Just don’t leave this floor.”

Here is Giovanni de Verrazzano “discovering” Staten Island in 1520. Apparently, he anchored for one night. Prior to European contact, the island was inhabited by the Lenape, and was called Eghquhou: “the bad woods.”

After a brief walk through Staten Island history, Willow returns to the the ferry landing area, which is humming with activity. Further along the river’s edge is the Postcards 9/11 Memorial honoring the 274 Staten Island residents killed in the attacks.

Willow boards the ferry to return to Manhattan. She quickly looks up Robbins Reef Light Station, and learns that it is a “sparkplug” lighthouse built in 1883, located on a small ridge of sand named “Robyn’s Rift” by the Dutch settlers of the area for the seals ((rob or robyn in Dutch) that would sometimes lie on the reef at low tide.

She sees it! It’s small and quite missable, but she’s delighted to have learned something on this trip. She hopes the photographer manages to get a good photo.

From the ferry, Willow can see the weather changing between New York and New Jersey.

She watches the drama play out.

Willow is made from a beautiful Holland & Sherry fabric (from a suit of my husband’s. He gets through those things!) Her hat is from a pair of baby jeans, her top is the sleeve of a long-sleeve t-shirt, her shorts are from a pair of boxer shorts, and her shoes are from a necktie.

You sail into the harbor, and Staten Island is on your left, and then you see the Statue of Liberty. This is what everyone in the world has dreams of when they think about New York. —Frank McCourt Special thanks to Shania.