On July 4, 1825, 52 Norwegians, many of them Quakers seeking religious freedom, boarded a ship named Restauration in Stavanger, Norway. They arrived in New York City on Oct. 9, 1825, laying the foundation for the 800,000 Norwegians who would immigrate to the United States over the next 200 years.

On Thursday, exactly two centuries later, H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and hundreds of Norwegian Americans — some wearing bunad, the traditional Norwegian costume — gathered at Pier 16 by the South Street Seaport Museum in lower Manhattan to witness the arrival of a replica of the Restauration.

The ship completed a three-month voyage retracing the original route from Norway to England, across Madeira and the British Virgin Islands, before reaching its final destination in New York City —

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