National Women’s Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, NY

March is Women’s History Month! Women are, by and large, the unsung heroes (well, heroines!) of history. They have often worked behind the scenes or have even assumed men’s names to introduce their achievements to the world.

Did you know that the circular saw was invented by a woman? Tabitha Babbitt, in 1812. The dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochran. Kevlar- the material used for life-saving bullet-proof vests was invented by Stephanie Kwolek in 1966. Isa Forbes invented the electric hot water heaer in 1917. Anna Anna Connelly invented the fire escape in 1887. And Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate-chip cookies in 1930. (Source: FactMonster)

Not to mention, a woman invented a blog about New York Travel.

As a history buff, I find it very fitting that the National Women’s Hall of Fame is in Seneca Falls, NY. Seneca Falls was the birthplace of the women’s rights movement. According to Fame inductee and suffragist Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (Susan B. Anthony gave the eulogy at Davis’ funeral, by the way), the women’s rights movement (as well as the abolition movement) was the direct result of the stunning wave of religious revivals in Upstate New York. Charles Grandison Finney, a lawyer from Adams, NY, was converted to Christianity and began a blitz of revivals named the “Second Great Awakening” that converted hundreds of thousands of people throughout Central New York. As a matter of fact, Central New York from Utica to Rochester was nicknamed the “Burned Over District” because people closed bars and gambling places, attended churches, cleaned up their lives, and became honest businessmen and women.

Charles Finney permitted women to pray in public in mixed-gender prayer meetings, a scandalous move at the time. He was extremely outspoken in his support for women’s human rights, for the abolition of slavery and for the removal of bars and other places where men got drunk. Finney was president of Oberlin College in Ohio, the first American college to allow women to learn alongside blacks and men. One of the ladies who attended Oberlin College, Antoinette Blackwell, who became the first woman minister of a recognized denomination and led a pastorate for a Congregational Church in Wayne County, NY.

With Upstate New York ripe for change, the first Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls. Lucretia Mott, that famous Quaker women known for her amazing speaking abilities, joined with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others to petition and organize the women’s rights movement.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame is on 76 Fall Street. It’s a tall, narrow building, almost inconspicuous.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame was started in 1969, to honor American women for exceptional achievements throughout history: “to honor in perpetuity those women, citizens of the United States of America, whose contributions to the arts, athletics, business, education, government, the humanities, philanthropy and science, have been the greatest value for the development of their country.”

When you first walk in, you see a bell. It’s the original bell from the old Seneca Falls Knitting Mill, off the Erie Canal.

The lady who greeted us as we entered, Christine, informed us that the organization had purchased the knitting mill and plan to relocate the Hall of Fame to the knitting mill in the near future. The knitting mill, a short walk from the current Hall’s location, employed many of the Seneca Falls women who fought for equality. We walked down the street to see the mill. It is definitely larger and will be able to contain larger displays.

Doesn’t it look like a scene from a Currier and Ives painting?

Back to the Hall of Fame. We meandered the narrow halls, checking out the displays of the inductees. There are hundreds of inductees. Most ladies I knew or had heard of. However, there are some ladies missing, women who I believe should be on the walls (such as Phyllis Schlafly and Shirley Temple Black).

There were very few displays in the building, just a few here and there. I liked this one, filled with Votes for Women paraphernalia.

It’s nice to know that the National Women’s Hall of Fame is growing. They do take submissions for inductees! You can nominate a woman through the online nomination form at their website. Additionally, you can pay $100 to nominate a women (such as a mother or sister) to be included in the Hall’s Memorial and Tribute section.

I look forward to seeing the new location with new displays at the Knitting Mill. I’ll definitely be back for that!

Bagg’s Square and Old Fort Schuyler, Utica, NY

Bagg’s Square is an inconspicuous spot in the northern section of Utica, NY. It is named for Moses Baggs, a blacksmith and tavern keeper who kept a thriving business here.

Before there was Utica, there was Fort Schuyler, built in this area by the British in 1758. It was a critical spot for the new American settlers. Fort Schuyler was “a chain of forts built to protect the northern frontier from the French and their Indian allies, and to guard the great ford across the Mohawk Valley.” Fort Schuyler was named for Colonel Peter Schuyler, the uncle of the famous Phillip Schuyler (who later became Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law). There’s a bit of confusion about the naming of the forts. During the American Revolution, Fort Stanwix in Rome (another British-built fort and was named for a British officer during the French and Indian War of the 1750s) was renamed Fort Schuyler, after Philip Schuyler. This Fort Schuyler here near Bagg’s Tavern was renamed “Old Fort Schuyler.” After the Revolutionary War, both Fort Stanwix/Fort Schuyler and Old Fort Schuyler were dismantled. When Fort Stanwix/Fort Schuyler was resurrected in the 1970s as a memorial, it was given it’s original name Fort Stanwix. Got that? There’ll be a test tomorrow… whew!

In 1794, Moses Baggs built a small but comfortable tavern near the fort, to house the many settlers and military men traveling from the eastern to western ends of New York State. George Washington and Marquis de LaFayette stayed at the tavern, as well as Henry Clay and General Ulysses Grant. It also became a stagecoach stop for mail delivery. In 1815, Moses Baggs’ tavern was torn down and replaced by a larger one made of brick. That, too, is gone. This newer stone building and park remain as a memorial to the important part Utica played as intermediary for travelers and ideals of revolution and reconstruction.

If I remember correctly, this area is where a huge revival was sparked in the 1820s, under the preaching of Charles Grandison Finney. Utica was one of the most affected cities. It was reported that all bars and houses of ill-repute were closed, because there was no business for such promiscuous living. Everyone was “getting religion” and didn’t want to sin anymore! This area was buzzing with revival that it became known as the “Burned-Over District.” Imagine, this happening in Utica, New York!

And then this plaque at the top of the tavern made us stop in our tracks. Read more

New York’s Mohawk Valley

We actually saw SUNSHINE yesterday (the Mohawk Valley of Upstate New York sees sunshine about 1/3 of the year). Almost all our surface snow had melted, although the big dirty clumps of snow remain. It was actually rather pleasant, despite the mud! Today, the temperatures are back down below freezing and misty snow is falling. A few inches are expected today.

Can I whine? Waaaaaaaaah!

The Mohawk Valley is a unique area of Upstate. It is the lowest geographic area of the state. Therefore, it is the cloudiest area of the state. We aren’t hit as hard with lake effect snow (snowstorms that travel from Lake Ontario to our west), but we do experience flooding.

The Mohawk Valley used to be called the Gateway to the West because it was the only navigable route to the western frontier of the United States, until the railroads were built in the late 1800s. If you look at a map of the Eastern seaboard, we’ve got the Appalachian Mountains from the Carolinas up to the Pennsylvania/New York State border, and we’ve got the Adirondacks and “Northern Appalachians” northward up to Canada.

The only area where people could transport their goods and their families west was up the Hudson River and westward through the Mohawk Valley. It is the reason why New York State is such the “melting pot” state that it is. The centuries of transmigration through our state has formed its character. We are an impatient, transient, restless people. There’s a terrific online book by the late Paul Keesler, called Valley of the Crystals; if you want to learn more about New York, that’s a great place to start.

It is believed that the first inhabitants of what is now New York were the Algonquin Indians and the Iroquois Indians (these are the European names given them). The Iroquois Indians consisted of numerous tribes; the groups that populated the Mohawk Valley were, as expected, the Mohawks. They were a very fierce and territorial tribe, so this part of New York was considered the “wild frontier” and remained largely unsettled because of the fierce clashes between the Europeans and the Mohawks.

The Revolutionary War (in which the Mohawks sided with the British– the losers) ended the Mohawk’s land claims. (During the Revolutionary War, Upstate New York was a hot bed of civil clashes between patriots and loyalists. Besides the 100+ battles fought here, there were terrorist raids by British, Loyalists, and their Indian allies. So much of the Mohawk Valley was destroyed by fire that this period is called “The Burning of the Valleys” to this day). After the war, the “wild frontier” was rapidly settled.

The construction of the Erie Canal sealed New York as the Empire State, leading an entirely new era of entrepreneurship, and spawned the Industrial Revolution in the country. And in the 1820s, a religious revival that began in Adams, NY, led by Charles Grandison Finney, spread across the state and across the nation. This eventually spawned religious revivals across the world in Wales, Scotland, and the Scandinavian countries. The Mohawk Valley became known as the “Burned Over District” because of the zeal and fervent devotion of Christians. From this revival sprang movements for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. New York State– and especially the Mohawk Valley– led the nation once again.

I did not grow up in the Mohawk Valley. I am a relatively new import, although I am a New York native. I’m actually a descendant of the Algonquin Indians, so I don’t suppose I can get any more New York native than if I sprang out of the soil. Living in the Mohawk Valley is a interesting experience. The area is very self-absorbed. I don’t mean that in a necessarily negative way. This area is very cloistered and not as cosmopolitan as, say, Syracuse or Binghamton. And there is no desire for the Mohawk Valley to become cosmopolitan; the people of the Valley seem to like their traditional ways. I suppose this is what attracts young families, as the Mohawk Valley touts itself as a wonderful place to raise a family.

In June 2006, Upstate New York was hit massively hard with flooding catastrophies. The rain just never seemed to stop. My own property has been flooded a dozen times in the past decade. I dug up this old YouTube video of a restaurant in a nearby town that was washed away in the floods. The second video is an aerial video of the flooded Mohawk River. The pictures are stunning.

New York has been experiencing another series of battles over the years, this time for the heart and soul of the state. Horrible economic and legislative policies tailored to benefit New York City at the expense of rural Upstate has caused New York to spin into a nosedive. New York is expecting to lose at least two congressional seats after the next census, due to severely declining population; New York is losing its political clout and seems to have forgotten its roots. It was actually Upstate’s Erie Canal and Finney’s Great Awakening that made New York City the hub that it is and the success that it found, but I think those facts have been forgotten. Time will tell if New York will see another awakening.

Travel Wanna-dos

With spring right around the corner (as I ignore the falling snow and blustery winds out my window), we’re gearing up for another season of outdoor activity. The kids and I are hoping to go on an extended “Freedom Trail” trip, with drives out to historic sites and museums pertaining to the abolition of slavery movement and the Underground Railroad. Upstate New Yorkers were the movers and shakers of the abolition movement, Charles Finney’s explosive revivals spawning a social movement unsurpassed in American history since the Revolution of 1776. There are numerous Underground Railroad stations in Upstate New York, including several in my local community and one just down my street.

Anyone know why it was called the Underground Railroad? Take a guess?

It was called such because of the use of code phrases, to hide the slaves and their escape routes from the authorities. Definitely sounds like a New York plan. Here are some of the code words, in case you didn’t know. Notice the obvious religious undertones.

Baggage: Escaping slaves

Bundles of wood: Fugitives to be expected
Canaan : Canada
Freedom Train: The Underground Railroad
Gospel Train: The Underground Railroad
Heaven or Promised land: Canada

Load of Potatoes: Escaping slaves hidden under the farm produce in a wagon
Moses: Harriet Tubman
Parcel: Fugitives to be expected
Preachers: leaders, speakers underground railroad
River Jordan: The Mississippi
Shepherds : people escorting slaves

Station : place of safety and temporary refuge, safe-house
Station Master: keeper of safe-house

“The wind blows from the South today”: A warning to Underground Railroad workers that fugitive slaves were in the area.

“Left foot, peg foot”: A visual clue for escapees left by an Underground Railroad worker famous because of his wooden leg.

“A friend with friends” – A password used to signal arrival of fugitives with Underground Railroad conductor.

“The friend of a friend sent me” – a password used by fugitives traveling alone to indicate they were sent by the Underground Railroad network.

“Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus” (words to a song) – used to alert other slaves that an escape attempt was coming up.

There is a lot to learn about the Freedom Trail. New York State has an entire section of its tourism devoted to it, from John Brown’s home in Elba, NY, to Harriet Tubman’s home in Auburn, NY, to the estates of abolitionists like Gerrit Smith. I’m still working on the plans, but it will be a designated itinerary that I expect will take us several months or longer.

A blogger friend in Syracuse also told me of a lovely Erie Canal Park in Camillus, NY (near Syracuse). It is an area devoted to the history of the famed Erie Canal of New York State, with a park-like setting. There’s plenty of space and rural recreation areas dedicated to dog-walking, exploring ruins, and strolling down its numerous paths. We love the outdoorsy-type activities, so this sounds like a very enjoyable early-spring day trip.

I can’t think of any other places we will be this season. The Freedom Trail will certainly consume most of our energies. We would like to take a trip out of state this summer (yes– out of New York State!), perhaps to Washington, DC, and Virginia, to visit some relatives (and stay with them for free, heh heh). All this is in the planning stage, as I also need a new kitchen this year. Stay tuned, adventures will continue!