From Sky news this is connections.

I'm Veronica Volk.

This hour we're continuing our tour of the Finger Lakes with a place very near and dear to my own heart.

Seneca Falls, a small town with a big legacy.

Seneca Falls is home to under 9000 people, but it holds a major place in American history.

Of course, because it was here in the summer of 1848 that a group of women gathered for tea and changed the world.

What came out of that meeting was the Seneca Falls Convention, where organizers like put where organizers put forth a radical idea that women deserved full citizenship and the right to vote.

I'm thinking about that convention a lot lately, and more than 175 years later, that legacy is preserved in the town's museums, historic buildings, and other cultural institutions.

But Seneca Falls isn't just something out of a history book.

It's a living, breathing place shaped by the people who live and work there.

And this hour, we're joined by four of those people.

Pam Becker is the Seneca County historian.

Welcome, Pam, to the park.

Thank you.

Anna Wilson is the superintendent of the Women's National Women's Rights National Historic Park and Harriet Tubman National Historic Park.

Thank you for joining us, honor.

Thank you for having me.

Nellie Ludeman is the museum and community relations manager for the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Thanks for joining us, Nellie.

Thank you.

And Andy Olden is the executive director of the Seneca Falls Heritage and Tourism Center.

Thank you so much, Andy, for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So let's start by painting a picture of Seneca Falls right now.

Pam, I understand you're a lifelong resident of the area.

Yeah, yeah, born and raised.

Great.

So how would you describe it for somebody who hasn't been there?

Seneca Falls is a perfect slice of Americana.

It is community.

It is small town togetherness.

Any stereotype that you might have of the small town from the ice cream shop to, the bands playing music in the park on Thursdays, any, any, any of that is definitely part of Seneca Falls.

Must have made it just a lovely place to come.

It's delightful.

Is anyone else here from Seneca Falls originally?

No.

Well, then I guess, Andy, what do you.

What are you hearing from folks who are maybe visiting for the first time?

So, yeah, we, we host the museum and tourism center in Seneca Falls.

So that's home to the Museum of Waterways and Industry.

And as you said, the visitor center for Seneca Falls.

With that, we are often the first stop for visitors coming in, because we do represent the five museums in Seneca Falls and the greater Finger Lakes area.

But by and large, you hear folks come and say, hey, I just I've got an hour and what can I do?

I've always wanted to visit Seneca Falls.

This has been on my list.

And, you know, so we're sitting down to the National park side or the, the Hall of Fame, but a lot of folks, you know, they know this name.

It's a household name of Seneca Falls.

And I'm originally from the Midwest.

And on my move out here, you know, we know Cleveland, Cincinnati.

But Seneca Falls was the only small town that I knew at that point.

And this is far before I started working.

And with, organization.

But with that being said, visitors just, whether they, they're planning an hour or a full week in the, in the area, they come with so much, life and magic to, to their visit and, whether that's for women's rights, the, the beautiful outdoors in the area, not just in Seneca Falls, but the adjacent regions or, or even for the rich history of, of abolition industry.

It's a wonderful life for various aspects of the, the community bring people from all walks of life in or not even to mention the, the fantastic wine region in the area.

So all of that being said, you know, we get it.

We get people from all sorts of walks of life.

I believe last year in 2024, our institution hosted guests from 48 states and 16 countries, about 23,000 people.

So we get people from all different walks of life that all different abilities.

And, just come to, as, as, Pam said, get a little slice of Americana, but, a, a piece of the United States that's just so deeply rooted in history and culture and, and the arts along the canal or wherever it may be in town there.

Yeah.

I can't wait to get into, like, all of what you said, specifically the It's a Wonderful Life reference, but, in our this does not seem like enough time to experience everything that Seneca Falls, even though Seneca Falls is such a small town that just can't imagine just coming in and just be like, what do I do in one hour?

But I guess I would have to come to you then.

Or, you know what?

That'd be a good stop.

We have a we have a ton of complimentary brochures.

I'm going to be honest, I always think that, most not only for Seneca Falls, but for American history that the national park side is the is the one our stop.

But hopefully people can spend a little bit longer.

You know, those are often guests.

Maybe, moving on a road trip.

Just, saw it and wanted to pop in, maybe for lunch, grab a museum visit while they're there.

But, you know, an hour is, definitely not my recommended time to visit, but, you could make a full day out of it easy.

Well, we're going to try to do it in an hour today.

So, Pam, I want to go back to you.

Let's talk about some of the historic, the history of Seneca Falls.

But maybe going back before the convention itself.

What can you tell me about some of the some of the early history?

The early history of Seneca Falls is definitely tied to the Seneca River and the canal, because the development of the canal, which connected key, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake to the Erie Canal itself, is what developed the entire area.

The tie it ties Geneva, Waterloo, and Seneca Falls into the, Syracuse.

Rochester.

Seneca Falls is Seneca County developed and grew its north south thanks to the glaciers.

We'll go way back.

Okay, but when the glaciers withdrew, Cayuga Lake and especially Seneca Lake, there are glacier lakes, which is why we have the gorges and our.

Oh, if you have a day.

I don't even think a day would be enough to take care of our area, because just hiking through the gorges, we have, you know, to Cannock Falls and Watkins Glen, and there's just so much in the area for nature.

But that north south geographic reference means that the only East-West connection to tie Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo is Seneca River and then the Erie Canal.

That's the only tie that there is.

And without that canal, there wouldn't have been a Seneca Falls or Waterloo.

So I would definitely see the canal.

The early industry, the founders, 1820s, 1820s.

When you see a lot of development after the Revolutionary War, right about the turn of the century, is when you're going to see settlers coming in, you're going to have Van Cleef and minders coming into Seneca Falls for development.

You're going to have Samuel Baer in Waterloo.

We don't like to think, well, we don't really think about our area as a frontier.

But we were a frontier.

It was log cabins.

It was very rugged, very little house on the prairie.

You would.

Well.

That's great.

I don't want to talk.

Bring Andy back in talking about some of the canal and the industrial, development of the town.

How did that shape some?

As just sort of piggybacking on what Pam said?

How did that sort of roll?

Well, adding what Pam said, you know, the the canal, which it is the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.

Happy birthday.

You know, the Yuga Seneca is an offshoot of that, much like, the various others around the state, like Oswego Canal.

But with that being said, this early canal, industry was based around Portage or getting boats and industry and getting the supplies around the waterfalls, or they were more of a set of rapids.

And then as industry developed, they kind of, manipulated the falls and then became the lower, middle and upper falls, which, that was the dominant way of transportation as, as I said, the connection with goods and people even further down, lower into the Finger Lakes, like folks down in Keuka Lake coming up.

And those connections to through Seneca, using the sugar Seneca Canal again to connect to the larger Erie system, but with that being said, a lot of the early businesses were based along the canal.

Even prior to the barge canals expansion, there was an actual island with industry filled with it on on this island, island works that were the factories were located there in Seneca Falls.

So, that was taken out when the canal was widened and deepened as part of the barge canal system.

But with that being said that that was the base of Seneca Falls.

As Pam noted, too, it's the geographic center of all these areas.

And then once the railroads really start to boom after the Civil War, the industry in Seneca Falls just only continued to, develop along with, with that.

So with all that being said, that the industry in Seneca Falls was very tied into the national climate.

The, the knitting mill in town was founded with wool instead of cotton.

So they weren't part of the southern cotton market, right around the Civil War.

And they worked with, the United States government to make union socks and other other pieces for the, for the army there.

But with that being said, I know I can can get much more into that in the her institutions located in the former Senate containing mill.

Right.

But with all that being said, the industry was the base and now, with, you know, now the, interstate the Thruway runs relatively nearby.

It just kind of continued to transform, you know, everything from Westcott rulers to Sylvania.

TV tubes were made in Seneca Falls, but now it's slightly transformed with, with tourism, the industry that we're all based in, being a dominant industry there.

Yeah.

And I want to talk about the tourism's impact on sort of the economy and the development of the town.

But let's get into the legacy of 1848.

And, Anna, let's start with you.

So how how do you tell the story of the Seneca Falls Convention?

So I really like to try and start from the beginning and start discussing the climate, the social climate, the, and what was going on during the antebellum period.

And so 1830s, 1840s, and onward and just the, the condition in which women lived at the time and how radical the idea of equal rights and, the franchise for women.

So they ability to vote, the ability to control their own destiny, their own futures.

You know, we try and and talk about that in our exhibits and through our programs.

And then also we invite other, our other partners.

So we invite, you know, the Hall of Fame and, even like the Farmington 1816 Quaker meeting House, and, Miss Tilden, Matilda Joslyn Gage house, we invite a lot of different partners to come in and tell their stories and how they connect to the 1848 convention and post convention.

And so what stands out to you about the actual convention itself?

What's one maybe one of your favorite details?

Oh, I am absolutely just amazed how they were able to pull it together so quickly.

So the quickness, the the ability to sit down, say, you know, this is this is a problem, this is a problem.

This is how we see this problem, this is how this problem is impacting us.

And how can we tie it to something that is fundamental to this country, which is the Declaration of Independence.

And for five women to really sit down, take that document that is against fundamental to our our country's legacy and be able to write it for women and create the Declaration of Sentiments and then convene 300 people to discuss it to, I mean, like, fully discuss it really, debate every single thing, come up with, resolutions on how to act on what they've seen, and then to still and to actually get 100 people to give their name, to put their name on a document that says, this is this is these are our grievances, and this is how we see us moving forward.

You know, I think that is incredibly powerful.

And they were able to do it in like two weeks.

That's a that's a very short amount of time.

Yeah.

And so really considering the limitations with communication and transformations.

Yeah.

Right.

And people did come from all over to, you know, come down and you know, Frederick Douglass came from Rochester and there's, you know, and there's a tie.

It's just this amazing tie into, broader history and, and understanding to the the connections between the abolitionist movement and the women's rights movement, you know, that they were tied so closely together.

I think all of that, it just gives me chills because it's so amazing to think about, all of these women and, and their push to organize and be activists.

I think it's easy to, take for granted some of the human rights that you're talking about that were discussed at this convention.

And hard to put yourself in a place where it was really radical to say that women deserve citizenship in a country that they're living in, in a country like the United States.

And you've been in this role since 2020, is that correct?

2021?

Okay.

So it's that's not long, but it also feels like a lifetime length of time since 2021.

But how have you seen maybe the interpretation of that history change over time.

So I think, you know, it's been a really interesting, look at our exhibits.

So I look at the changes through what we have in our museum.

So for instance, our most of our exhibits have been there since 1993.

They were developed in 1989, planned out in 1990 and then installed in 1993.

And it is a perfect snapshot of how the country was dealing with the the issue of women's rights, the issue of feminism, the issue of human rights in general at that time.

And so looking at that and seeing how it has shifted and moved and it grown until now is really interesting.

And so there's whether it's the phrasing of, you know, some of our exhibits, whether it is, just some of the, historical quotes or facts that are in there, we've done some changes and some modifications, and we lately have been taking stuff down because it is we have grown so much in this country when it comes to the issues of human rights and women's rights and, and activism, the the ability to speak about a specific topic, and so we're actually taking things down and putting new exhibits up.

And so and we're working with our, you know, community partners as well to bring in new exhibits and, and stories that weren't covered in that first exhibit, design.

But we have you know, we have decided that those are really important stories to tell about our community.

Can you just be a little bit more specific?

Like when you say you're taking things down or these things that are you find like in, in retrospect, they're inaccurate or they're maybe offensive or maybe they're just not needed anymore.

And so actually it's it's a lot of stuff that had numbers associated with it.

So talking about, income inequality or, women in the workforce or things like that.

And so there was a lot of numbers that at the time.

So in like 1990 to 1992 were correct.

And so but now they are no longer it's just we've just changed as a culture, as a community.

And so, you know, we've been thinking about how can we make our exhibits a little bit easier to change and update because, you know, the issue of human rights is continually evolving.

How can we place how can we give a space for our visitors to have discussion to have you know, to bring them questions that they can think about, that they can discuss with, the family that they're with or the group of people that they're with.

How can we help them have those conversations, those deep conversations that can connect them personally to the stories that are connected to the 1848 convention?

And so I think that is that is something that's really important to us is to be able to to facilitate those intergenerational conversations, because those seem to stick the most with our visitors.

I want to bring Nelly in now, too, because I imagine that, like, have you had to change your programing as well and over the last few years.

And what's that process been like?

Yeah, definitely.

We have we've had to change, some language, when doing programing and in exhibits, are, is is a little bit more unique because, we are kind of in transition.

So we're in a new building, just opened up in 2020.

So, some of our exhibits are kind of hitting that mark of maybe we need to look, relook at some of them.

And that building is the Seneca Knitting Mill that we were talking about with Andy Barr.

Yes, yes, the original Seneca knitting mill building.

Yes.

Which we, it's been a, a long process to get us in there, but it's been wonderful and we're really happy to keep that going as well.

I'm so sorry.

That's okay.

I should I just talking about sort of updating programing to reflect like the current moment, whether that's like from a numbers perspective or even in, I guess, maybe even in the selection of your inductees to the Hall of Fame.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Yes.

I mean, time times are changing and we, we want to stay, with those changes, because they're important for our audience.

And they're important for our inductees.

So, yes, we've definitely looked at changing languages when it comes to, how we nominate someone and who we choose.

To be more inclusive, to be, kind of taking on our mission.

So our mission is to, distinguish, American women and to inspire all generations, but to really inspire young women to, achieve these wonderful things and then hopefully be inducted someday as well.

So, yes, we've, we've definitely relooked at some things.

That's lovely.

The sentiment of, like, maybe being inducted someday.

Yeah, a young woman.

So the, let's talk about the knitting mill building itself.

Like, what is the significance of that building for this mission?

Yeah.

So the Seneca Knitting Mill was a textile mill which worked mainly in wool manufacture.

And it it was built in 1844.

So it's it's been through a lot of Seneca Falls history.

It's a very, very big part of the community.

It was a generational employer.

So many, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, they all worked there.

They might work different shifts, but they were all there.

So when you talk to a lot of individuals in town, especially since it just closed in 1999, you talk to people living in Seneca Falls, they will tell you stories of when they worked there or when their mother worked there.

So it's it's the building itself.

The company that was here was a big part of Seneca Falls history.

But they were also kind of a center of progressive thought.

So, they were hiring a lot of women, especially in times when it was very much looked down for women to, gain employment, to financially support themselves or their families.

And so this building, was kind of a center of this progressive thought.

So it's really, really wonderful that we were able to purchase this building.

And we are now in the process of, you know, rehabilitating it, and telling not only the stories of the individuals, especially the women that worked in the mill, but also these amazing American women, that have achieved so many wonderful things that maybe people don't know about.

And that's really our mission is to, tell those stories.

And you and, you can talk more about this oral history project.

Are you also involved in an oral history project around sort of women who worked at this mill or, I have started, an oral history project.

In the past, I used to be associated with the historical society in town, and that's when I started it.

I'm, very slowly working on continuing it.

I've started speaking with, a woman that was associated with our building committee, and kind of the building project itself.

But I would like to definitely get back into speaking with women and men that have worked in the mill, because it is a big part of the history.

You can learn a lot from people that worked inside the mill, the environment, the culture, kind of the discrepancies between workers.

It's interesting that, like, we think about Seneca Falls as the birthplace of, like, women's rights movements and ties to the abolitionist movement, but not necessarily labor rights.

So what has your research of maybe the knitting mill and sort of the role that women played in this, like early economic justice shown?

I mean, I, I don't know, all of the the labor unions in Seneca Falls.

I know that, the Waterways Museum, had a very nice exhibit a few years ago on it.

But inside the mill itself, I do know that they had a, a textile union.

Sometimes it wasn't the best, and it really didn't work for their needs, but, it did exist.

And I apologize.

I don't remember the name of it.

Yeah.

That's okay.

We'll have to look it up and get it in the show notes.

Well, what do you think?

Yeah.

Do you have any, sort of thoughts about or programing about some of the economic justice of Seneca Falls?

And could you speak to some of that?

So we don't we don't currently have an exhibit about the, economic justice in Seneca Falls.

But that is something that actually we want to we want to expand our program offerings to talk about, labor rights and looking at Seneca Falls, and the different industries, because it was so, it was so industry heavy for so long.

And it's, it's something that that we're looking we're working on right now and is really interesting.

I know I have a couple of staff members who are particularly very interested in it.

Oh, great.

All right.

Well, we're going to take a very quick break, our only break of the hour.

And we get when we get back, we'll talk more with our guests about the lovely and historic Seneca Falls.

I'm Evan Dawson coming up in our second hour, if you can think of maybe a thousand things you'd like to change about the health care system.

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They've been collecting data from the public on how to improve the health care system.

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And we're back.

I'm Veronica Volk, this is Sky News and Connections, and we're here with four guests who know more about Seneca Falls than I do, obviously, but also we're here to tell us all about it.

We have Pam Becker, she's the Seneca County historian on a. Wilson is the superintendent of the Women's Rights National Historic Park.

Nellie Ludeman is the museum and community relations manager for the National Women's Hall of Fame.

And Andy Olden is the executive director director of the Seneca Falls Heritage and Tourism Center.

Pam.

So you have also worked as a genealogist and researcher?

Yes.

So what sort of local stories have you uncovered, that you would like to share that maybe have have taught you more about Seneca Falls?

Well, I think one of the stories that I've been working on and have done multiple presentations on so far has been the neighborhood called The Flats in Seneca Falls.

Two areas, if you go and you only have an hour or you know you're looking for a quick fix, one place you should go Trinity Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, down at down by Van Cleef Lake.

That has been, that's been there since 1831.

It's got Tiffany glass windows and it has a history in and of itself.

But then there's the Van Cleef Lake.

And looking at it, you would not realize now we're getting into the island that Andy was talking about earlier.

There was a whole community.

There were 50 residential homes, there were factories.

It was a neighborhood to be able to live down in the flats was quite a feather in your cap.

If you were a family of the immigrants coming in.

So when you say the flats, can you just like tell us, maybe try to explain where this would be so there is obviously there's a drop in, elevation when you go from Waterloo down to Seneca Falls.

The locks in Waterloo have a drop of 20ft.

The locks in Seneca Falls have a drop of 49ft.

And so that's a heck of a drop.

So as the elevation was dropping through the Seneca River, which was going to become the Cayuga Seneca Canal, there was it widened out and there was a large flat area, hence the flats, hence the flats.

It was a large.

Yeah.

And so it was a great place because of the drops in elevation.

It was a great place for the factories to be built.

Each factory would be in charge of their own locks.

They were wooden locks.

If you look at pictures of them, you would not have a lot of confidence.

Living downstream from one of those locks.

And as the factories grew and were developed on that area, going all the way down, all the way down the canal to that end, as the migrants, as the immigrants are coming in, not just from, you know, their local areas, there are a lot of Irish, but then the Italian immigration is coming into Seneca Falls.

They built their houses down on the flat area to be closer, to be within walking distance of the factories.

Then as the people who are working in the factories, as they work their way up, this becomes a very upper middle class neighborhood.

Because you're going to have your foremen and, people who can afford to purchase houses.

So there are about 50 residents down in what was known as the flats, and it was an entire community in 1915, when the new canal comes through and they widen it and they have the development, at that point they needed to have a lake as at 49ft, there's a 49ft drop on those locks.

It's a double lock.

If you ever go through the double lock, meaning there's two of them.

Fair enough, but you go through one lock and then that will lower you about 20, 25ft, and then there will be a second lock that you will then lower down to.

It'll be level with Cayuga Lake.

And then from there you can go to Cuca Lake from there.

So this locking system, which there were four locks initially.

And when the state came through in the early 1900s, that's when they put in the double lock.

And you look at the construction of these, the concrete, the steel with it's a heck of a thing that they were able to do in developing the locks in this, this new, this waterway system to accommodate the industry.

And they did it with steam power, you know, it's all coal and steam and, you know, computers and they're using, you know, math and just figuring things out.

It's it's a huge it's a monument to the industrial age.

And a monument I think that's an appropriate word for it because obviously we've seen sort of a decline in industry as an economic driver, not just in Seneca Falls, but I mean across the country here in Rochester.

Right, right.

So, so what drives we talked about this a little bit before, Andy, but like, how does tourism drive some of that economic development now?

And how does it call on some of that industrial industrial economic growth of the past?

Well, Brett, at the museum that I'm with the, the three floors of our facility, the top floor has more about the geographic settlement of the area.

The middle floor has more about the areas industry.

As I said previously, in Seneca Falls, they made, everything from Westcott rulers to, celestial globes outside of the Sox.

They also, they made a variety of pumps, different pump factories.

It Gould is still located in Seneca Falls.

So the industry is ever present, whether it's from the building buildings.

Kuga Street in Seneca Falls has a very nice of Victorian homes.

With that being said, that that just shows the kind of opulence and wealth that some of these factory owners had in Seneca Falls, at that time.

But with that being said, as you noted, tourism is the a main driver and whether that's from the canal and boaters recreational using that lock system that was just, talked about or cyclists we have cycle the Erie come through there.

Seneca Falls is one of their stops every year.

So that's nice as well, because we get cyclists traversing the state on the, the Empire State Trail.

How bikeable is Seneca Falls.

So that's that's the thing that it just depends on.

Kind of a lot like a lot of smaller towns.

Just depends on, the portion of town you're in.

It does have a direct connection there to this, this larger trail system in New York state.

It's kind of an offshoot, as I said, of the, the larger Erie Canal bikeable trail there.

But in the town itself, it's it's continuing to improve as as roads are renovated, as, as the, as, infrastructure continues to change.

So, like many places that it kind of just depends where you're at.

And the, in the town itself.

Sure.

But we do have a, we have a ton of cyclists to come visit.

So the, the outside of just, you know, the and I say this because it doesn't have like a designated bike lane.

But I say this because I think all of our institutions host a variety of cyclists or, or people kind of, bouncing across the state, whether they're following the canal or, you know, with a cycling group or just, we get busses from Rochester or other locations all the time coming to see, our places in Seneca Falls.

So with that, in mind, we have we have visitors from all over the world that come, come join us.

As I noted earlier, it's an easy our offshoot or it's, it's a much longer stay if you make it, because, I mean, year round, there's there's something to do, in December, though, where you get the It's a Wonderful Life festival, which is the second week of December every year.

So that brings a variety of, of diehard, It's Wonderful life aficionados from everything from there.

It's a wonderful five K to, you know, the actors, like, you see Jimmy Stewart running down the street or, different, different things.

Yeah.

So with all that being said, I think it's such a broad stretch of visitors, from from all walks of life.

As was noted, there's there's a ton of outdoors in the area.

There are we have a variety of museums, but not to mention the, the food and the local, the local shopping is fantastic as well.

I'm a personal, daily visitor to, Seneca Falls.

I actually live in Syracuse.

But why I say that is my wife orders from a store in Seneca Falls almost weekly.

Because the shopping, the the boutique atmosphere, the restaurants, all of it is very fantastic.

And so, I it sounds cliche, but we have a little bit for everybody, whether that's, an outdoor enthusiasts, somebody who's very interested in women's rights, very interested in industry, really is just a diehard foodie or, just loves the area.

So we have a bit for everybody in Seneca Falls.

So how I mean, just for the folks that live in Seneca Falls, it is their attention there between the people who are there sort of every day and and living there, and then the people who are just coming for an hour or coming for a day, or coming for a week, or maybe descending on a town because they love a movie that's 100 years old.

Like, how do you sort of see that play out to you?

I know, I see you shaking your head.

Did you want to just I, I don't really see attention.

I think, they actually really enjoy finding that familiar, favorite thing to do with the movie, especially during its wonderful lifetime.

We could have done a whole hour on it, but we we soon, and I'm sure that we have in the past.

But yeah.

But no, it's such a beloved movie that, finding someone else that loves that movie, they just really, really latch on to that for sure.

And they are proud of their history.

Growing up in Seneca Falls, people love talking about, where their parents worked or what they got up to when they were kids.

And they love sharing that with people that pass through.

So I, I don't I personally don't see a lot of tension.

I think they really enjoy welcoming people from all over.

Is this true, Pam?

Oh, absolutely.

Refer to the resident I need.

I need a, to just make sure.

Yeah.

No, absolutely.

The Wonderful Life Week is just such a high for everybody who is there in town.

And we'll have 4 to 5000 people through the five K and it's it's it's just a fantastic it's a fantastic week.

It starts Thursday night into Friday and then Saturday and Sunday are your high points as far as sharing what they know I'm there is a website, a memories of Seneca Falls and I put lots of photos on there or I'll, you know, things will be mentioned about wonderful life.

Oh, and everyone just jumps in.

Oh, we love it.

We're so happy.

Oh yeah.

This is and they love it.

Going back and what you said they love sharing their memories.

I find photos all the time that aren't labeled and they'll be turned into me and I'll put them up on the website and oh, that's my uncle.

Oh, I remember I recently had photos that I put up on one of them.

There were a number of knitting mills in town, and one of the knitting mills was down by the rec center, where the Seneca Falls Community Center is now.

And that burned down.

And I had photos of it, and I, I didn't know anything about it.

And I put it up and the the result was overwhelming.

I got a fantastic response.

Oh, yes.

My aunt was working there.

Oh, we lived across the street.

Oh, they send us home from school because they used all the water to put the fire out, and there was no water for school, and they sent us all home.

This this is a very welcoming community.

Sure we have.

Everybody has political differences and everything is so polarized now.

But when it comes to community and our heritage and our history, people are very, very proud of what we have here in Seneca Falls and what we accomplished.

The Seneca Falls Historical Society is housed in one of those fantastic Victorian homes on Cayuga Street.

The old Partridge House, the old Becker House.

Where ever happened to live there at the time?

And, they have going back to my flats.

They will have a number.

They have a number of photos of what the town looked like with the flats, those 50 houses that were down in that neighborhood, 27 of them were moved.

They have photos.

I have did my presentation.

They like testimony, a testimony to the industrial age.

They jacked those two story houses.

These were not small houses.

They jacked these two story houses up, put them on logs and using horses, dragging them up the hill into town.

And people still live in them today.

Those poor horses.

That's all I can think of.

I know that's an incredible story, though.

That's.

That's amazing.

And so, yeah, there I think, like any small town, you scratched the surface just a little bit and you start listening to the stories of the people there.

How?

Yeah.

I'm sorry to cut you off there.

How do you how are young people sort of engaging in those stories?

Because we're talking a lot about history and about memory.

I'm curious about how the next generation of people who either live in Seneca Falls or who visit Seneca Falls are sort of taking that in.

And and maybe Anna, you want to you want to talk about how sort of the park speaks to to the younger generation.

Yeah.

So, you know, one fun group that that we have a pretty good, following with is the Girl Scouts.

And so the Girl Scouts in Seneca Falls and, and in the surrounding areas, we have some wonderful scout, you know, Girl Scout leaders that bring them to the park and go through our Junior Ranger program and, and just go through the museum and do some of the other things.

We hosted them for convention days this year and had, a family program in the morning that, that catered to the big, Girl Scouts groups.

And it's really fun to be able to see them come in and connect with our rangers and with our volunteers, and, and go through and talk to us and have fun and, and especially go to the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House and talk about the children that grew up in that house and the parenting style of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

And, you know, what is it about that parenting style that they're drawn to?

I'm intrigued.

Now.

It's it's I think, I think today we would call it free range parenting.

She was very into, you know, allowing children to explore.

She wanted them outside.

She wanted them to play.

She wanted them to read books.

She wanted them to be able to speak their mind.

And so.

And that was, I mean, incredibly radical at the time is to, to and to do it for both your sons and your daughters and to really embrace that.

She really loved that family life, even though it kind of kept her in one place, it allowed it still allowed her to raise the next generation that can continue her thoughts continue her activism, can continue all of those things.

And, you know, even though it was hard for her as a, as a mom to stay at home with her seven children, I know, God bless her.

And very opinionated children.

In the best way.

But she was able to still have the time to write and to write letters and to do a lot of organizing and activism from her home.

And, you know, that's where her relationship with Susan B Anthony came into play, because Elizabeth Katie Stanwood would send a lot of letters in and have this, you know, be able to use her brain and, and still have that activism.

And then Susan was able Susan B Anthony was able to use that to go out and speak and to bring and bring that message out to the places.

Ella's case and couldn't go at the time.

And so, I just think that's a really interesting discussion about how those two different sides of the Queen, you know, of activism is raising the next generation to be able to continue, and then also being able to go out and speak to the masses.

And, you know, one was a very traditional women's role, staying in the home, counseling your children, raising them to be the these, the citizens that you think are important to keep this country as the best it can be.

But then you have Susan B Anthony, who is bucking trends and just going out and speaking, which is, again, so radical at the time, especially for like the time of the convention, they were all all of the women, you know, they were ready to sit down, write out their thoughts, talk to each other, have tea and talk to each other and discuss these big things.

But to speak in front of a huge group of people was unheard of, and it was really unusual for women to speak to in public that way.

And so that is something that is always really shocking to, especially our younger generations that come into the park and to really understand, like the, the limitations that women lived under, during the time of the convention that is, always very interesting.

It it's yeah, it's interesting.

And I'm obviously very interested in how Elizabeth Cady Stanton raised her children as as the mom of a few feral children myself.

But I do think it's, it's not that foreign to think about these two women as sort of embodying these two different, paths for women.

One sort of taking on a more traditional role having children and one sort of bucking that life and living a child free life.

I see I think you see a lot of that in 2025.

And I also want to talk and bring in sort of your work with the, Harriet Tubman Park as well, because, just just thinking about how Harriet Tubman represents, another dimension of what we're talking about here, which is not just women's rights, but human rights and and how you feel sort of overseeing these parks right now in 2025.

Oh, man.

It is.

It is really, eye opening.

It's just impressive to be able to be at to two very, political, very, interesting and complicated and complex sites, that focus on women and what they were able to do, not only just around them.

Directly.

So their friends, family, their communities, but also throughout the United States, you know, they really did help change the entire their culture and, and our, the history of our society and how women functioned within these roles and how men function, even, you know, because that is, you know, all of the things, all of the changes that women have been able to achieve over the last 177 years, we couldn't have done it without allies and supporters and, you know, and also just the change in human rights as well.

You know, there are amazing people, amazing activists, amazing, the people with amazing ideas and thoughts and that drive for change because they were tenacious.

They and their tenacity to continue with a cause that was near and dear to their hearts for the rest of their lives, and then to also be able to pass that on to future generations, to continue and to continue to improve that is, it is an inspiring, you know, and it I feel like that that story of tenacity and also the story of they didn't even get to see the end, they didn't get to see the fruition of their dreams like it.

There there is a there's an idiom where they say is an old man that says, you know, they ask, why are you planting these trees?

You'll never sit under the shade is because my my future generations, other people will be able to sit under that shade.

And so having that ability to see in the, the long range future, the long game and understand that what they're doing is they're setting the foundations for what they want to see for future generations, understanding that they may not ever see it.

And so being able to see these two places and, and have people come in and discuss it and think about it and have historians come in and tell their little piece of what they've been able to hyper focus on and do all of this research on?

I mean, that is absolutely fascinating.

I love having speakers come in and listening to them because seeing them get really excited about very intensely, complicated and complex stories and using documents and, and history and evidence, from that specific time period.

It's it is connecting you to the past.

It's connecting you to their thoughts.

But it's also energizing to see, you know, wow, they were able to do this at a time when it was really tough and they still kept going.

Yeah.

And I think you could argue that the the work isn't done right.

I mean, we're not at the end of that story in so many ways.

So I just I want to toss this out to everybody in the group.

Like what what are you most excited about for the future?

What is the future of Seneca Falls look like?

And maybe Pam will start with you.

I think for me it's about stories.

I think the future is us passing these stories on to our children and our grandchildren.

Even when they look at you and they don't want to hear you talk about it anymore, you just keep going.

This Memorial Day, I took my grandson to, the cemeteries.

And I could point out this was your great great grandfather who?

He led the meals.

He he, led the meals on the towpaths for the canal, for the Seneca, Cayuga Canal.

And my grandmother.

So this my grandmother.

She worked at the knitting mill.

My grandmother and her three sisters were one of the first ones to go down and register to vote after the amendment was passed, and they did it together.

These are the stories about our heritage that we need to share with our children that will help them feel a connection to the area, that they will see that this is not some, oh, the 19th of this.

This is not some abstract thing that happened in history.

This is connected to you, and we're running out of time.

So I want to make sure to get Andy's thoughts as well.

So, I think it's continuing to build and grow.

Excuse me.

We're seeing, evidence of that just by the downtown revitalization Initiative.

Seneca Falls received a $10 million grant to totally revitalize many of the spaces in Seneca Falls.

So our institution right now is under construction at 89 Fall Street.

To additionally, the park down the street where we hosted our free summer long concert series, People's Park is under construction.

The canal side is under construction.

A lot of development.

Correct.

So I think that shows the continued progress of where the town is, is going both, as, as a collective of people, but also kind of if the infrastructure matches the excitement and everything else around Seneca Falls.

Excellent.

Nellie.

In a few seconds, what are you most excited about?

Just where Seneca Falls will go.

We celebrate a lot of the past, and that helps us, kind of frame our future and hopefully, keep telling those amazing stories.

Excellent.

And, Anya, anything else to add in the last 10s?

Oh, yes, it is, the unread, unfinished revolutions of, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

And so I think looking at that history of the United States in the eyes of everybody is really important.

Well, thank you all so much for joining me.

And, more another hour of connections is up after this.

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