Women’s Rights National Historical Park

There aren’t many places where you can stand between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass and pose for photos with the famous 19th-century social reformers. But that’s just part of the experience of visiting the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. 

The visitor center’s “First Wave” exhibition of life-size statues pays tribute to the five female activists who organized the Seneca Falls Convention — Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Mary Ann M’Clintock and Jane Hunt — along with like-minded men who supported them. 

Spearheaded by Stanton, the conference took place at Seneca Falls’ Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in July 1848 and was the first public appeal for women’s suffrage in the United States. The chapel is now part of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, a multisite destination that tells the story of the Seneca Falls Convention and the five women who defied sociopolitical norms by asserting their rights as citizens in the Declaration of Sentiments that convention organizers penned with the Declaration of Independence in mind.  

Conferencegoers first heard Stanton’s powerful phrase, “all men and women are created equal,” in that simple red brick chapel. Between it and the visitor center, a meaningful green space called Declaration Park features a waterwall where her history-making words are etched in stone. 

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton House is located nearby and is open seasonally. She resided there with her husband and their seven children, and during ranger-led tours of the house, you’ll learn why Stanton called it the “Center of Rebellion” in the pursuit for equal voting rights. When the park holds its Convention Days celebration each July, vintage women’s baseball teams often play 1860s-style games in the backyard. The pitchers throw underhand, and since nobody wears gloves, players often use their aprons or skirts to catch baseballs. 136 Fall St., Seneca Falls, New York 13148, 315/568-0024, nps.gov/wori