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, including the home of Elizabeth Cady-Stanton.

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.

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. After attending a ranger program at the church, we headed to the Cady-Stanton home.

Cady-Stanton Home➤

Elizabeth Cady Stanton called her house in Seneca Falls the “Center of the Rebellion.” She moved into the home with her husband and three sons in May 1847. The family grew larger and spent 15 years in Seneca Falls before moving to New York City.

Stanton attended a gathering at Jane Hunt’s house in the nearby town of Waterloo and was drawn into the movement for equal rights. She organized the 1848 First Woman’s Rights Convention with Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Lucretia Mott and Jane Hunt. She co-authored the Declaration of Sentiments issued by the convention that introduced the demand for votes for women into the debate. For more than fifty years, she fought to advance her ideas about women, rights and families. Sadly, she didn’t live to see the vote.

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