June 2, 2025.

In July of 1848, Seneca Falls was home to the first Women’s Rights Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Marth Coffin Wright, and Jane Hunt organized the convention which took place over two days and was attended by over 300 people. Frederick Douglass was an ally and spoke at the convention. At the time, women were considered their husbands’ property and had no rights of their own, not even over the custody of their own children.

Photos 1-9: The Park Site’s Visitor Center displays not only historical info, but thought-provoking points about modern day society. Is there much difference between the corsets of yesteryear and the high heels of today? Both are displays of status…and both are terrible for the body and constrain women. And the billion dollar cosmetic and plastic surgery industries that tell women their worth is tied to looking young and thin..? Then there is unequal pay, and also the myth that raising children and managing a home isn’t real work.

Internalized misogyny of women who enable patriarchal systems is as much of a thing now as it was back then. We still have a long way to go.

Photos 10-13: Wesleyan Chapel housed the convention and was rebuilt in 2009. You can see where the original brick ends and the newer brick begins. Black outlines show where the stairs and balcony were once located.

Photos 14-15: Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s house