Ground Zero, Then and Now

What the name means

Ground Zero was the term used for the World Trade Center site during the recovery, after the two towers fell. It stayed in use through the years the site was a construction pit. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum uses the site’s formal name, and the guided walks use both. The history page follows the dates.

Where it is

The 16-acre site sits in Lower Manhattan, bounded by West, Vesey, Church and Liberty Streets. The memorial plaza occupies about half of it. The museum pavilion is at 180 Greenwich Street. The getting-there page lists the subway stations and the PATH terminal inside the Oculus.

What is there today

At street level: two pools, each nearly an acre, in the footprints of the North and South Towers, with the 2,983 names on their bronze parapets; about 400 swamp white oaks; the Survivor Tree; and the Memorial Glade, dedicated in 2019. Below: the museum, at bedrock. Above: One World Trade Center, 1,776 feet to its spire, with One World Observatory on floors 100 to 102. Next door: the Oculus, the transportation hub opened in 2016.

Visiting Ground Zero today

Yes, and the part most people mean by the name costs nothing. The plaza is open daily from 8 am to 8 pm, as published; check the museum’s own page on 911memorial.org before travelling, with no ticket. Only the museum below needs a timed ticket; the memorial-vs-museum page separates the two.

What to see, in order

1. The Oculus, free to walk through, with its 330-foot skylight.
2. St. Paul’s Chapel on Broadway, unscathed on the day, free to enter.
3. The FDNY Memorial Wall on Liberty Street, 56 feet of bronze, at the Ten House.
4. The South Pool and its names.
5. The North Pool and the Survivor Tree.
6. The Memorial Glade on the south-west of the plaza.
7. The museum pavilion and the descent, with a timed ticket.
8. One World Observatory, with a separate ticket.

The guided walks follow much the same order. The Ground Zero walk gives 15 minutes to the Oculus and 75 to the pools and the tree, with the museum as an option at the end.

Why the site is known

On 11 September 2001, 2,977 people were killed in New York, at the Pentagon and on Flight 93, 2,753 of them in New York. Six had been killed here in the bombing of 26 February 1993. The recovery ended on 30 May 2002 when the Last Column left the site; it now stands in the museum. The memorial was dedicated on 11 September 2011 and opened to the public the next day.

Frequently asked questions