Day 12–Seneca Falls and Erie Canal

The Women’s Right’s Museum in Seneca Falls was a worthy stop for this trip.  I asked our guide Meghan if there was a way of communicating the ideas of this place to my third-graders in a simple, straightforward manner that they would be able to grasp and understand, in terms of women’s rights and how important this topic is to them.  We felt the best approach was to present examples or situations to them that they can relate to: 1) The fact that in this time period, women were not just denied the right to vote (a concept kids this age are just starting to realize is important, even though they haven’t done it yet), but were also not permitted to attend college.  Many of these students know their parents would like them to go on to higher education, so this roadblock would be viewed by them as unfair; 2) A woman who was married or pregnant–according to the social mores of these times–she could not hold a job.  Many students know how important that second income is to their families and would not see why there was a rule like this (further, since many of them are from single-parent families, it would be interesting for them to know that their moms might not have any custody or visitation rights to them if their mom was divorced–however this may be a topic best left unexplored if it is too sensitive an issue); 3) Students would be interested to know that, under the old laws, any money their mother makes would be the possession of their father (I bet their moms would love this!);  4) A woman had to stay home until she was married.  However, given the economy, this may be a strategy many people are opting for anyway.

Our guide informed me that Hillary Clinton has visited the museum a number of times, and ”…loves the whole area!”  Interestingly, she also told me Sarah Palin has also visited the museum in conjunction (which prompted one member of our group–who shall remain nameless–to assert that she had to have been lost, or had to use the bathroom), though, in her role as a National Parks Service Employee, she kept her opinion of this visit and Mrs. Palin to herself  (…take a wild guess, ladies and gentleman…).

The Erie Canal ride was fun, but I couldn’t help wondering if, in these trying financial times, the expenditures by the state to refurbish this historic site can ever be realized through the ways the river is being used at this point.  It seems that tourism would be  a drop in the bucket  on a $300+ million investment.  The visit to William Seward’s residence was enjoyable and informative. Our guide possessed such a wealth of knowledge that it was clearly a struggle for her–due to time constraints– to fit in all the things she wanted to tell us about.  It’s too bad we didn’t have a little extra time.  What I also got from this was that Seward was clearly being groomed for was the Presidency–with he himself doing some of the grooming–and it must have been crushing for him when a relatively inexperienced newcomer (who we know as Abraham Lincoln) received the nomination.

Finally, when our guide commented on the Japanese furniture as part of the pieces in Seward’s living room, I commented to the people next to me that this was not such a big deal, as I have all sorts of items on display in my living room from China…through Wal-Mart…

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