You’d never think that the diminutive redbrick, blue-collar town of Seneca Falls saw the birth of the American women’s movement, but it did; the first women’s rights convention, spearheaded by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, took place here in July 1848. The remains of the Wesleyan Chapel where the convention was held can still be viewed at the center of town, on a guided tour from the Women’s Rights National Historical Park (daily; free; 315/568-2991), right on US-20 at 136 Fall Street. A brief exhibit on the scandalous pants-like “bloomers” popularized in 1851 by local feminist Amelia Bloomer combines with displays on transcendentalism, abolitionism, temperance, and phrenology to place the rise of this revolutionary movement in historical context.
A block away, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, 76 Fall Street, is a reading-intensive monument to the likes of Georgia O’Keeffe, Harriet Tubman, Emily Dickinson, Billie Jean King, and Jane Addams. You can listen to a saucy blues selection from Bessie Smith while dodging an endless stream of group tours.
