The museum at the Woman's Rights National Historical Park. The fountain wall bearing the text of the Declaration of Sentiments abuts its east wall, at right in this picture. The Wesleyan Chapel lies one door further east, off the right side of this picture.

From the opening of the Woman's Rights National Historical Park until 2011, the remaining original walls of the Wesleyan Chapel were preserved in this open manner. The metal roof replicated the profile of the Chapel's original roof line, long lost. To enhance the interpretive experience, protect interior surfaces from the elements, and create an interior free from traffic noise, the full Chapel was reconstructed in 2011.

The stone wall pictured here is inscribed with the full text of the Declaration of Sentiments adopted at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. This monument abuts the Women's Rights National Historical Park museum (brick wall at upper left) and faces the Wesleyan Chapel site (off photo to right). During the summer, the inscribed wall is washed by a perpetual fountain.

The Wesleyan Chapel was reconstructed in 2011, yielding a significantly improved interpretive experience. New construction is different in color so that remaining original materials may be clearly recognized.

Interior of the reconstructed Wesleyan Chapel, looking northwest.

Interior of the reconstructed Wesleyan Chapel, looking southwest. The double doors at right open on to Fall Street.

Architectural details include gaps in brickwork to support joists of the absent second floor, over-window lintel, and surviving fragment of original wall surface (under plexiglass at right).

This mid-twentieth century plaque commemorates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the first Woman's Rights Conference held on this site. It was attached to the remains of the Wesleyan Chapel decades before any of the current restoration work began.

Hostile press comment on Convention

Hostile press comment on Convention

Aside from Frederick Douglass's antislavery paper The North Star, few newspapers gave the Seneca Falls convention favorable notice. Most published commentaries were rude, dismissive, or outright insulting. This comment by a Massachusetts paper was typical; Elizabeth Cady Stanton reproduced it in her autobiography Eighty Years and More.

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