There are currently 419 sites that comprise the National Park System. A mere 62 of those are designated as national parks and receive the lion’s share of attention, funding, and visitors. Books have been written about each, and there’s no shortage of information about them online. But what about the other 357 sites?

Known by a surprising number of designations – from national monument to  national battlefield to national lakeshore – the vast majority of the National Park Service’s protected areas aren’t actually “national parks.”

The Roarbots’ series of NPS Adventures takes a big-picture view of one of these sites and highlights some of the best activities it has to offer. This almost always includes activities and suggestions we can recommend from personal experience. And pictures. There are lots and lots of pictures. Glad to have you aboard!

Welcome to Women’s Rights National Historical Park!

Stats

• Women’s Rights National Historical Park
• Location: Seneca Falls, New York
• Established: 1980
• Admission: Free
• Social Sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

In a very real sense, the road to the 19th Amendment – which was ratified in 1920 and granted women the right to vote – began 72 years prior in Seneca Falls, New York. In 1848, five brave women at the forefront of the movement – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, Martha Wright, and Jane Hunt – organized the First Women’s Rights Convention and drafted a Declaration of Sentiments meant to overturn hundreds of years of injustice.

Fed up with being second-class citizens, these five women – along with 300 women and men and the prominent support of Frederick Douglass – broke with “expectations” and decided to make waves. Waves that would prove decidedly controversial in 1848 (and for many years after) but would continue to be influential… eventually leading to a widespread women’s suffrage movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the passage of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920.

(Click on all pictures to embiggen.)

Visitor Center & Museum

The first floor of the visitor center is home to the gift shop and information desk (obvs), but it’s also where The First Wave exhibit stands. These life-size bronze statues honor the five women who organized the First Women’s Rights Convention, along with several men who also supported the cause. Commissioned by the NPS for the site’s opening in 1993, the exhibit was created by Lloyd Lillie, Victoria Guerina, and Hilary Hutchinson.

Also on the first floor is the theater, which shows the 23-minute orientation film “Dreams of Equality” (and which you can watch right here, thanks to the National Archives).

The second floor is the museum, which features static displays about women’s rights before the 1848 convention, the beginnings of the women’s rights movement, “acceptable” jobs for women, fashion, activism, and education. There’s also a model of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel before renovation and a bronze handshake sculpture that symbolizes the partnership between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Surrounding Structures

The visitor center sits next door to the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, site of the First Women’s Rights Convention on July 19 and 20, 1848. During the two days of the convention, the Declaration of Sentiments (which they based on the Declaration of Independence) was adopted, demanding equality in property rights, education, employment, religion, marriage… and suffrage. It’s hardly an understatement to call it a radical document for 1848. Attendees at the convention also heard speeches from people such as Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass.

Built in 1843, sold in 1871, and extensively altered afterward, the chapel underwent extensive renovation in 2009 and 2010. Before then, it was basically a shell of a building. Only two of the original brick walls were standing, and the original wooden roof beams were underneath a garish metal protective roof. Today, the chapel looks brand new – as it would have during the convention in 1848.

Also part of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park complex are the McClintock House (where the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted on July 16, 1848, in Waterloo, NY – the next town over – and also a stop on the Underground Railroad), the Hunt House (where the convention was planned on July 9, also in Waterloo), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s house (her family home for 15 years).

Both the McClintock and Stanton houses are open to the public, and guided tours of the Stanton house are available in the summer (with limited availability during the rest of the year). The Hunt House is currently under renovation and closed.

Junior Ranger

Like most NPS sites, Women’s Rights NHP has a park-centric Junior Ranger program. The book focuses on the Women’s Rights Convention, the Declaration of Sentiments, suffrage, important people in the movement, and bullying.