Parks and other public lands with T!

Western NY Parks➤

In September, I set out with a road trip buddy to visit some park units in upstate New York. For me, the highlight of this trip was visiting my 100th National Park Service unit. That puts me at Bronze status in the National Parks Traveler’s Club. The fourth stop on our journey was Women’s Rights National Historical Park.

Women’s Rights National Historical Park➤

The Women’s Rights National Historical Park preserves several key sites in the women’s suffrage movement. These sites include the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the homes of some of the movement’s organizers. The visitor center holds two stories of exhibits and shows a film. Scroll down to view the film, courtesy of YouTube.

We arrived at the visitor center shortly before it opened, so we strolled around Declaration Park. Declaration Park features a long water wall. The Declaration of Sentiments is inscribed on the panels of the wall. This was the defining document of the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848.

The reconstructed Wesleyan Methodist Church sits a few steps away from the visitor center. Wesleyan Methodists supported abolition and their churches were some of the few places which allowed anti-slavery meetings. The five organizers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Martha Wright, and Jane Hunt, chose the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls as the meeting place for the first Women’s Rights Convention.

We attended a ranger talk in the church entitled, “Revolutionary Roots: The 1848 Convention.” We learned the backstories of the organizers and what led them to take up the cause of women’s rights. In 1848, women couldn’t vote, hold public office, pursue a profession or higher education. Married women could not own property or gain custody of their children.

Three hundred women traveled to Seneca Falls for the convention. They spent the first day debating and editing the Declaration of Sentiments. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, it stated that “all men and women are created equal.” On the second day, one hundred women and men signed the completed document. The movement was born!

Western NY Road Trip➤

• Fillmore Glen State Park
• Harriet Tubman National Historical Park
• Seward House
• Women’s Rights National Historical Park
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton Home
• Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
• Niagara Falls: Terrapin
• Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist
• Niagara Falls: Observation Tower
• Niagara Falls: Luna
• Niagara Falls: Trolley
• Niagara Falls: Gorge
• Corning Museum of Glass

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Location: 136 Fall St, Seneca Falls, NY
Designation: National Historical Park
Date designated/established: December 28, 1980
Date of my visit: September 25, 2022