Sunday, June 21, 2015

97) Women's Right National Historic Park

Visited: Saturday, June 20, 2015

Our final NPS stop, as we travelled westward across New York, was in Seneca Falls.  This is a nicely done site, with a good movie, a nice (if brief) tour, and a nice set of displays.  But... almost no Harriet Tubman.  The museum currently focuses on the formation of the movement, and does a nice job with that, but doesn't carry the story through.  Apparently they are working on this, but for now it was a disappointment - having learned about Tubman's involvement in the suffragette movement, I wanted to hear more - not a void.  (Not even a showing of Suffring Without Suffrage, the old Schoolhouse Rock video.)

It's still a worthwhile stop, but hopefully it will improve enough to warrant another visit soon.

96) Fort Stanwix National Monument

Visited: Saturday, June 20, 2015

This is the NPS site that Megan visited the longest before I got to it, having grown up nearby, and visited on a school trip.  And it's nice to visit a Revolutionary War site - kind of since the battle was a few miles away - rather than the more common Civil War sites.  But on the whole, this was not one of the ore impressive sites - the reconstructed fort is pleasant enough, and the movies showing the contrasting feelings about the battle are nicely done - but this is not high on the "come back for more" list.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

95) Martin Van Buren National Historic Site

Visited: Saturday, June 20, 2015

I've generally found the presidential sites to be interesting, and this was no exception.  I had not realized that Van Buren had actually been instrumental in the founding of two U.S. Political parties - the Democrats and the Free Soil Party - and as a result is on the short list of former presidents to run with a different party later.

This is a small site, but a nice one - though, more so than most, you really need to take the tour.  The full content of the visitor center is a short movie and a small bookstore.