Kamala Harris was waging a fierce campaign to become the first female president of the United States when I visited Seneca Falls last September. What a powerful moment, I thought, to explore this small town in western New York that’s considered the birthplace of the women’s rights movement.
Voters did not make history in 2024. As I reviewed my notes and pictures, I couldn’t help but wonder: What if more people toured this historic mill town where the first Women’s Rights Convention was convened in 1848? Could more knowledge of the fight for women’s rights have helped elevate the first woman of color to the White House?
I don’t have any sure answers. But my visit to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park was a poignant reminder of how long the quest for equal status for women has taken—and how much farther there is to go. The simple brick chapel where that determined group of women, and some men, first met to demand equal rights for women should be on everyone’s must-see list.
©Barbara Redding
Hall of Fame Showcases Women Trailblazers
Equally impressive is the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which heralds influential women throughout history. Seneca Falls’ suffragette leader, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, is an inductee, as is acclaimed poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. I’m confident Vice President Harris will be there soon.
While Seneca Falls is proud to be known as Suffragette City, this is not a one-issue town. Fans of It’s a Wonderful Life will notice its striking resemblance to the film’s fictional Bedford Falls. If you doubt the connection, a museum dedicated to the movie may convince you, as it did me.
And if you need another reason, this leafy 19th-century town of 9,000 is the gateway to the scenic Finger Lakes Region. Eleven glacier lakes, rushing waterfalls, charming villages, and cool-climate wines beckon visitors. More than 100 wineries linked by wine trails entice oenophiles to savor award-winning wines, particularly Rieslings.
Seneca Falls Enjoys Central Location
Fortunately, it’s possible to explore the sights, scenery, wineries, and more, even on a short visit. Seneca Falls is centrally located between Rochester and Syracuse, on a branch of the old Erie Canal linking the northern ends of Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.
The Visitors Center of the Women’s Rights Park in downtown Seneca Falls should be your first stop. Established in 1980 and managed by the National Park Service, the park includes the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, the site of the convention. The homes of Stanton and two other activists also are part of the park.
Life-size bronze statues of the “First Wave” of activists stand like sentinels in the foyer of the Visitors Center. In their long dresses and bonnets, the women hardly look like the rabble-rousers they were depicted back then. One of the most prominent statues is of Stanton, who kickstarted the nascent movement after moving to Seneca Falls in 1847. Another is Frederick Douglass, a former enslaved person and abolitionist who advised the convention to include the right to vote.
Photo Courtesy of National Park Service
Early Struggles for Women’s Rights Retold in Visitor Center
Colorful posters and educational exhibits fill two floors, recounting the early struggles as well as later triumphs. Some left me grimacing because of how badly advocates for women’s rights were treated. I was also proud of how women persevered for decades before Congress finally passed the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote. It’s still hard to believe it took 72 years.
Walking through the now-preserved Wesleyan Chapel next door is a spiritual experience. You can sit in a church pew and admire the painted screens of convention attendees that wrap around the ceiling. You can also stand at the pulpit as Stanton may have done. Informational panels explain how she and four other prominent local women met over tea and decided to convene a convention that changed the world. It was a start, anyway.
The chapel, built by a Methodist abolitionist group, was likely the only place willing to host the suffragettes, according to Don Stanko, a park service guide. Many in the women’s rights movement were Quakers, Methodists, and abolitionists who fervently opposed slavery, which helps explain why the town was a hotbed of women’s and civil rights activism.
Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention a First
More than 300 people met for two days in the chapel, with 68 women and 32 men ultimately signing the “Declaration of Sentiments.” Molded after the Declaration of Independence, the document declares that “all men and women are created equal.” It specifically calls for women’s right to vote, own property, and have equal rights with men in divorce, child custody, and other matters.
Written mainly by Stanton, the document is etched on a 100-foot wall between the chapel and the Visitor’s Center, providing a visual reminder of the convention’s vital tenets, some of which have yet to be fully achieved.
A visit to Stanton’s farmhouse, the “Center of the Rebellion,” offers additional insight into her life as an activist and mother of seven children. Three sets of statues in the town also commemorate the women’s rights movement. The most famous depicts when Stanton and Susan B. Anthony first met before they joined forces to lead the suffragette movement for decades.
Women from All Professions Honored
The National Women’s Hall of Fame, located in the newly renovated textile mill across the canal from the chapel, honors women trailblazers throughout U.S. history. The nonprofit group displays the names of inductees in every profession–from sports to politics, art, and science–on long paper scrolls organized by date. Exhibits and interactive screens tell deeper stories behind the women’s achievements.
Not surprisingly, Stanton and Anthony were among the first women added in 1973. That class also included Harriet Tubman, a formerly enslaved person and abolitionist. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, which is located in nearby Cayuga County, honors her legacy.
It’s inspiring to see the names of more than 300 women who changed history but were often overlooked. The Hall of Fame’s location in the massive Seneca Knitting Mill is more than a little ironic. For decades, women worked long hours in the mill making woolen goods like socks for wages less than those of men.
Is Seneca Falls the Inspiration for Bedford Falls?
I didn’t initially connect Seneca Falls’ role in the women’s rights movement to the holiday movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The 1946 beloved classic stars Jimmy Stewart as small-town banker George Bailey, who loses hope after a financial loss. His neighbors save him in fictional Bedford Falls, which many believe was inspired by Seneca Falls.
Anwei Law, the talkative director of the town’s It’s a Wonderful Life Museum, contends the movie “champions equality. It has a global message, but it’s especially relevant here because of our role in women’s rights and civil rights.”
According to Law, movie fans from all 50 states and more than 30 countries, including Afghanistan and China, have visited the memorabilia-filled museum since it opened in 2010. The museum also sponsors an anniversary festival for the film every December that’s attended by former cast members and their families.
Donna Reed Portrays Strong Woman in Film
While Jimmy Stewart gets the most attention in the museum, there’s also a display devoted to his movie wife, Donna Reed. Mary Owen, Reed’s youngest “real” daughter, frequently attends the festival in Seneca Falls every year. She told me her mother plays “a strong woman in the movie beyond that of wife and mother.” Reed also sought better roles for herself and other women in Hollywood and co-chaired an anti-Vietnam War advocacy group.
Reed was one of only two women in the 1960s who had a TV show. “The Donna Reed Show” focused on the woman, not the man, in the family, Owen noted. (Interestingly, the other woman was Lucille Ball, who grew up in Jamestown, New York.)
The museum details the connections between Seneca Falls and fictional Bedford Falls. I recognized some similarities immediately on my stroll downtown, especially after seeing the steel truss bridge over the canal.
Famous Bridge in Seneca Falls in Movie
The Bridge Street Bridge is nearly identical to the one in the film where George Bailey contemplated ending his life. Instead, he jumped in to save his guardian angel. In real life, a Seneca Falls man leaped from the bridge in 1917 to save a woman, sacrificing his own life. A plaque on the bridge heralds his bravery.
While the movie’s acclaimed director, Frank Capra, visited the town while writing the script, there is no proof the film was inspired by Bedford Falls. Law said he likely wanted the movie “to evoke fond memories of charming small towns everywhere.”
Finger Lakes Known for Waterfalls and Wine
Seneca Falls fits that bill nicely. Located between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, the town is a historic and strategic gateway to the Finger Lakes Region. The recreational wonderland is packed with scenic waterfalls, deep gorges, rolling hills, glacier lakes, and state parks.
Vineyards hug the hills around the lakes, which insulate the vines so that grape varieties like Riesling can ripen into late fall. Visitors can choose from more than 100 acclaimed wineries and explore several wine trails, many with gorgeous lake views.
My wine stops near Seneca Falls included Zugibe Vineyards, a family-owned winery on Seneca Lake. I sampled a Dry Riesling and 4 Freds Red, the winery’s signature red blend named after four generations of Freds in the family. I switched to a sobering flight of craft sodas at Three Brothers Wineries & Estates. The expansive property also boasts three wineries, a microbrewery, a café, and a coffee shop.
I also visited two stand-out Cayuga Lake wineries. At Long Point Winery, I enjoyed a freshly made caprese salad from the winery’s deli, with samples of Dry Riesling and award-winning Cabernet Franc. I sipped a flight of four estate-grown red varietals at Bright Leaf Vineyard that were paired perfectly with designer chocolates.
Where to Stay:
Small inns and bed & breakfasts abound in the Seneca Falls area. The Springside Inn near Auburn has seven charming rooms in a country setting. Legend has it that the inn, built as a boarding school in the 1850s, was part of the Underground Railroad and helped Harriett Tubman hide enslaved people on the run. Rooms are homey–think calico curtains and claw-foot tubs.
The Del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo is a bigger, bolder option. The resort has 205 modern rooms, a spa, a 2,400-seat entertainment venue, several restaurants, and a casino with 1,650 slot machines and 66 table games.
Where to Eat:
Café 19, named after the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote, serves fresh-made sandwiches, soups, and smoothies. The woman-owned café pays tribute to the town’s role in women’s rights, with portraits of suffragettes Stanton and Anthony lining the walls. You can order an espresso with honey called the Suzy Bee and a bag of beans labeled Revolutionary Roast.
Portico by Fabio Viviani is an elegant old Italian-style restaurant by celebrity chef Viviani that’s located inside the Del Lago resort. Portico is known for its homemade pasta, including a table-prepared carbonara that I found too deliciously rich to finish. Thick steaks and pork chops are also popular menu choices.
Seneca County and Cayuga County hosted my visit.
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