What would it be like to visit a national park that was exclusively dedicated to the history of women’s rights in the United States? Perhaps you did not even know that this park already exists! We certainly did not, until we came across the fascinating and inspiring story of a trailblazing woman who successfully campaigned to ensure women’s rights are enshrined in history through the National Park service.
A new book called ‘A National Park for Women’s Rights’ chronicles a little-known story in American history: the establishment of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York; the first “idea park” in the National Park system. As told by Judy Hart, its visionary founder and first superintendent, the park’s story is one of struggle and perseverance, opposition and solidarity.
Judy tells the uphill battle she fought to secure the park’s location—on the site of the first women’s rights convention in 1848—and to gain respect for the idea of a park dedicated to women’s rights from 1978, when she first championed its creation to the triumphant moment in 1982 when the park opened its doors, and following years.
Judy’s journey highlights the prejudices and resistance that she faced, like other women who have advocated for themselves, their rights, and their place in America. Going behind the scenes of the park’s planning and the negotiations, conflicts, and collaborations that shaped the final vision, ‘A National Park for Women’s Rights’ highlights the contributions of Park Service officials, politicians, and interested citizens in Seneca Falls, despite opposition from within and beyond the Park Service.
An inspiration and rallying cry for women (and their male allies) to tell their stories and claim their place in American history, ‘A National Park for Women’s Rights’ also offers a model for public history activism. No matter how daunting the opposition to such acts of historical memory-making are, Judy’s experiences remind citizen-activists to dream, organize, and persist.
Below, Judy writes more about her story for us, and the significance of the park in today’s socio-political climate where many of the gains won for women throughout history are at risk is we do not stop fighting for our rights.
The Women’s Rights National Historical Park now in Seneca Falls, New York was my idea in August 1978. I had just begun my new position as Chief Ranger for Legislation for the National Park Service Boston regional office. When the headquarters office in Washington asked what new parks we wanted in our region, I immediately suggested the Park Service needed a new park on women’s history. In 1978 there were 318 national park units and only three focused on women’s history.
My proposal was welcomed in the Boston office, especially by my Planning Director boss Terry Savage. I traveled on the first visit to Seneca Falls, joined the team to draft the new area study, and drafted the legislation so that Congress could create the new park. Once the park was authorized, I moved to Seneca Falls as the first park superintendent in March 1982.
My book, ‘A National Park for Women’s Rights: The Campaign That Made It Happen’, chronicles the stories of the dramas of creating this new park. I began thinking about writing the book
while I was still the first park superintendent, from 1982 to 1990. The creation of the park brought forth all varieties of the ways that women’s projects are deflected, discouraged, even blocked. Strategies were created to move past the blocks to the successful creation and development of the park. Along this journey I kept hearing “you have to write a book about this” because it was so emblematic of the challenges to women’s projects.
So I saved my personal papers, and planners, and memories, and moved my several boxes along my career path from Seneca Falls to Washington DC to San Francisco to Santa Fe and finally to Richmond, Virginia. When I retired in 2005 I began to sort through the papers and think more about writing.
January 2017 I traveled to Seneca Falls for the women’s march protesting the inauguration of Donald Trump. Tiny Seneca Falls was flooded with 10,000 marchers. I decided that day it was timely to write these stories. I wanted to encourage women to believe in their dreams. I wanted to inform readers in detail how a national park is created by the National Park Service and Congress so they too could embark on creating more parks focused on women’s history. I wanted to highlight and honor those who had worked so hard, in the face of controversy and resistance, to create the park.
That weekend I offered to return to the park in July and describe the back stories for creating the park. I was introduced to a professor emeritus from Cornell University who attended the talk. He reintroduced me to the professor who headed the women’s studies program at Cornell: I had worked with her in my first year in the park.
She introduced me to her editor at the Cornell University Press. I traveled to Ithaca to meet with him in September and began writing in earnest. As a Cornell University graduate in 1963, I was thrilled to work with the Cornell Press. Six years later, after writing seven drafts, Cornell published my book October 2023.
Four historic structures were included in the park proposal. Five women met for a tea party in the Hunt home and decided to call for a convention just days later, to be held in the Wesleyan Chapel. Later they met at the M’Clintock house to draft the Declaration of Sentiments as the program and agenda for the convention.
The manifesto outlined the rights women did not have and especially controversial – demanded the right to vote. The historic structures included also the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. All the structures had been altered and did not meet the standard for authenticity required by the Park Service. The centerpiece Wesleyan Chapel had devolved to a laundromat by 1978.
During my eight years as superintendent my mission was to acquire and restore the historic buildings so that the structures and the site finally “looked like a national Park” that would be revered by the National Park Service as well as the public. The centerpiece would be the Wesleyan Chapel where those attending the 1848 convention first publicly demanded the right to vote for women through the Declaration of Sentiments.
Despite facing opposition from the new administration of President Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of the Interior James Watt, during my time in the park the Service acquired the Wesleyan Chapel and the Stanton and M’Clintock homes. The Chapel was redesigned as a monument to women’s history not being preserved, and the Stanton home was restored to its historic appearance. The M’Clintock home was acquired and subsequently restored.
Finally, the sites in Seneca Falls “looked worthy of being a national park.”
The National Park Service is tasked by Congress with celebrating the nationally significant stories of our history by acquiring and restoring the structures where the events took place, and then staffing the site with rangers to interpret the story to the public. Creation of this new park by Congress declared that this history of the struggle for women’s rights was a nationally significant story that took its place alongside other national parks.
A place becomes known to the public, even if they do not visit the site. The park designation confers the honor that this is a place to recognize our stories. It is also a place to physically gather and meet others interested in women’s rights as well as learn the stories from the park. It says “women’s history is important” by its existence on a map, in brochures, in books, and on the web.
Still there are only 16 parks focused on women’s history of a total of over 400 parks. The land mass devoted to women’s history is not even close to 51% of the land mass included in the national Parks, but it is a start and a placeholder.
The biggest hurdle in creating this park was the reluctance in the Park Service to honor the history of women. This was offset by three visionary National Park Service Directors, all men, who affirmed the significance of the long -neglected history of women, including William Whalen, Russell Dickenson, and William Penn Mott.
Any resistance or reluctance for enactment by Congress was deflected by the enthusiasm of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, working with Congressman Frank Horton. December 28, 1980, President Jimmie Carter signed the legislation enacted by Congress to create the park.
President Reagan chose his Secretary of the Interior James Watt. The administration was dedicated to reducing costs and Watt soon announced there were too many parks and some would be deauthorized. Congress rejected his proposal said no that is our job and we are not about to undo our good work. Watt then announced there would be no acquisition to add to parks, no new parks, and all major construction projects were halted. Funds to start up the Seneca Falls park were restricted to a year one annual budget of $5,000.
The Park Service owned nothing in Seneca Falls. To give substance to the new park the owner of the historic Stanton home was persuaded to donate it to the park. We renamed the funding request for the restoration of the Stanton house “repairs” which fell into the new priority of the secretary. Restoration began the day the park opened in July 1982.
The “no acquisition” was later flaunted by a congressional add-on appropriation directing the acquisition of the Wesleyan Chapel, pushed through by the power of Senator Moynihan and Congressman Horton. Despite the administration policies, the Senator and Congressman also backed funding of $14 million for the work needed for the Wesleyan Chapel and a new visitor center.
The administration’s final attempt to block the park development was assigning a chair to the park advisory commission; the chairwoman’s proclaimed mission was to stop the expenditure of funds on the historic properties. She tried vigorously to block the park development but was outmaneuvered. However, the restriction of park funding carried through my eight years there, as the park could only request as increase of 15% over the prior year. The second-year funding was only $60,000 to pay for staff and operations so the subsequent increases challenged the operation and development of the park.
As our awareness of women’s history has evolved, so can the programs provided in the national park evolve to tell an expanded story. A shift occurred as the park proposal moved through the agency: the park in Seneca Falls became known as the “first idea park” because it forced a recognition that there are stories so nationally significant that they must be told, even though the site and structures do not meet the standards of the Park Service and “don’t look like a national park” as I heard over and over.
This has opened the door to other parks that would not have met Park Service standards including Stonewall Tavern National Historic Site and the Manzanar National Historic Site as well as other sites of social history.
We again are faced with political movements that would further restrict rights for women. One aspect of the campaign for the park creation might be useful in the current political campaigns. I had the benefit of one sentence that galvanized political and citizen support: “Did you know that women in this country could not vote until 1920?”
Many were unaware, shocked and surprised, and many were inspired to support the park. Agreement on one or two compelling sentences highlighting the most prominent issues might help galvanize support. Keeping it very simple helped me promote the park proposal, including always using the same wording. It never helps to assume folks know and understand the complexities of the many rights still not attained for women.
What always galvanized my work promoting the park, and developing the park, was articulating for my listener what the issues were, and the needs, and the consequences. As I worked through complicated explanations, I looked forward to the moment when the light would go on in their eyes as they grasped the significance of these new insights.
I hope that my book will encourage readers to make the changes they believe in.
You can buy a copy of Judy Hart’s ‘A National Park for Women’s Rights’, which is out now. If you want to visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, head to the National Park Service website to learn more about what is included on the tour and how to plan your trip!
