Dragonfly Boating: Seneca Falls to Baldwinsville, NY

Yesterday was a little different, since we did our tourist stuff in the morning, then traveled on the waterway. After breakfast at Cafe 19, we did a walking tour of Seneca Falls while waiting for things to open up. Kathleen was appreciative that all of the statues in town are of women. Seneca Falls was the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, hosting the first Women's Rights Convention in July of 1848. This two-day event, attended by about 300 and led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, was held at the Wesleyan Chapel. At the time, their concept of equality for women was considered “dangerous” by many in mainstream America, as was the parallel cause of the abolition of slavery. While the latter was abolished in 1865, women would have to wait another 55 years, until 1920, for the right to vote. Only one signer of the 1848 convention’s Declaration of Sentiments, Charlotte Woodward, was still alive when the 19th Amendment finally passed, and sadly, she was too ill to vote in the 1920 presidential election.

Seneca Falls is also known for an assumed connection to the 1946 movie classic It’s a Wonderful Life, and the town has long claimed that it was the inspiration for the fictitious setting of Bedford Falls. There are definitely similarities, and director Frank Capra did visit here while working on the screenplay, but my (non-exhaustive) fact-checking found no hard evidence that directly identifies Seneca Falls as the setting for the movie. Nevertheless, the town has a private museum dedicated to IAWL (as it’s known here), and renamed the bridge in the pic below the George Bailey Bridge, complete with bells attached by locals and tourists alike. Bonus Question: What do the bells mean? (Answer before Photo Journal). Map Link: George Bailey Bridge, Seneca Falls, NY

After enjoying a beautiful morning in Seneca Falls, we got back on the water for a beautiful afternoon on the canals. We retraced our steps up the Cayuga-Seneca Canal and the three locks we passed through the day before, then turned east again on the Erie Canal, which is actually the Seneca River here. It is wider, less developed and has a 10 mph speed limit, instead of the 5 mph on the western portions. We went a total of 37 miles to Baldwinsville, NY, where we found a spot on the busy town wall just before Lock 24. We took a walk around, then ate dinner at Mi Ranchito Mexican restaurant. Map Link: Baldwinsville, NY