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Lady Liberty's Crown Opens For 1st Time Since 9/11

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Jul 4, 2009 7:48 am US/Eastern

Lady Liberty's Crown Opens For 1st Time Since 9/11

Reporting
Sean Hennessey

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: (File)
AP

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Lady Liberty is gearing up for the masses who will soon be trekking all the way to her crown.

Since 9/11, the statue's top has been closed because of security reasons, but now, for the first time in eight years, the public will be allowed to climb to the top.

"The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of New York and America and this is the weekend to do it," said Keras Dastur.

"It's a symbol for all of us, new immigrants and old immigrants, so I wanted to see it," said Charmine Britton.

Like every other day since 9/11, the furthest anyone could travel was to the base of the statue. But come Saturday, Lady Liberty's body will be opened all the way to her crown.

"Without her, there wouldn't be a symbol of freedom," said Aleyna Bartnick.

Bartnick is an eight-year-old whose school projects provided a love and knowledge of the statue.

"The points on the crown represent the sun shining on the seven continents and the seven seas," she said.

On Saturday, she and her father will climb the steps all the way to the top to be among the lucky few to take in the view.

"I think there are about 352," she said. "Like they closed it for a long time and not a lot of people got to go in it and I'm just really excited I'm going to be one of the first people."

The Long Islander's trip is possible thanks to her nanny, who worked the computer and two phones the day tickets went on sale.

"She was jumping up and down and screaming. She was yelling up to her dad," said nanny April Shrader.

"It's going to be a great memory to bring her, to be one of the first people to be up there after it's been closed for so long," said father Chris Bartnick.

Now that the balance has been struck between access to a national landmark and public protection, there will be limitations.

"Only about 200-250 people a day, which is maybe less than one percent of the daily visitation out here," said Debra Sturm of the National Park Service.

The Park Service said it's as ready as can be.

And so is the symbol's youngest fan.

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