Doreen and Laura's Excellent Adventure: New York

August 4, 2019 - August 8, 2019

From Wolcott we drove to a campground near Rochester, NY so we'd have relatively easy access to the city. One of our stops was Mt. Hope Cemetery where Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas are buried. Mt. Hope Cemetery is a very old and very fascinating cemetery. For one thing it's very wooded and hilly with graves tucked in every nook and cranny. A guided tour would have been fun as there are many famous people buried there. With a little help from google we managed to find the two graves we were looking for.

We owe our right to vote to the work done by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Although Susan was unable to see women get the right to vote in the U.S. as a whole, she was able to see women get the right to vote in Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah and Idaho (both 1896).

This plaque says it all about Frederick Douglass. Well known for his abolitionist work he was an important voice in the women's rights movement, especially with regards to voting rights.

Frederick Douglass
Photo of a picture in Susan B. Anthony's home.

Rochester was home base for Susan B. Anthony. Her home has been made into a museum celebrating her life and work.

Susan lived in this house with her sister Mary for many years. Her sister Hannah and her husband lived next door.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked together to push women's rights forward for over 50 years. Elizabeth, married with 7 children, wrote many of the speechs, fliers, articles, etc. about women's rights. Susan, who never married, did all the traveling and gave the speeches.

This map shows the places Susan B. Anthony traveled in just 1871!
Just think for a moment what traveling entailed in those days. Trains, horse and buggies, possibly stagecoaches.

A bloomer outfit.
Sorry I can't tell you what the cartoon says. The picture is too blurry but thought the outfits worth seeing!

Some pictures of Susan B. Anthony's home.

Susan's bedroom. The black dress in the background was sent to her by a group of Utah women who
wanted to express their gratitude to her for going to Utah to help them fight for the right to vote.
It is made of silk derived from a cottage silk worm industry run by women in Utah.

A third floor was added to the home to make office space for all of Susan's activities.

Another part of the upstairs office.

Susan's aligator purse. For many years she used it as a briefcase, purse, etc.

For those of you of a certain age - perhaps you recall the following jump rope rhyme. According to the folks who run the museum at Susan's home - the woman with the alligator purse was none other than Susan B. Anthony.

Miss Lucy had a baby

His name was Tiny Tim,

She put him in the bathtub,

To see if he could swim.

He drank up all the water,
He ate up all the soap.
He tried to eat the bathtub,
But it wouldn't go down his throat.

Miss Lucy called the doctor,
Miss Lucy called the nurser,
Miss Lucy called the Lady
With the alligator purse.

"Mumps!", said the doctor,
"Measles!" said the nurse,
"Hiccups!" said the lady
With the alligator purse.

Out went the doctor,
Out went the nurse,
Out went the lady
With the alligator purse!

"Let's have tea."
These beautiful bronze statues of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass sit in a park very near Susan's home.

The George Eastman Museum is museum and mansion is also located in Rochester. Mr. Eastman was the pioneer of photographic and motion picture film (think Eastman/Kodak). While on the subject, the word Kodak is a totally made up word. Mr. Eastman liked the letter K and sought a word that began and ended with the letter. He finally came up with Kodak and the rest is history!

George Eastman - entrepreneur and philanthropist

Here's a trip down memory lane in terms of cameras. (We've come a long way baby.)

Some cameras from before 1900

Babie Brownie (1934)

Brownie Flash Six-10 (1940)

Polaroid 95 (1948)

Instamatic 100 (1963)

Powdered synthetic dye samples collected by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation.

The beginnings of motion picture technology.

Early methods to show motion used such devices as Mutoscopes, Kinoras, Theoscopes, Thaumatropes, Phenakistoscopes, Zoetropes and Praxinoscopes, all of which are carefully documented at the Eastman Museum.

You might have watched the simulation of movement on strips such as those above on something like the instrument (a praxinoscope) below.

Other methods of displaying simulated movement - above and below.

Kinetoscope (1894)
Produced by Edison Manufacturing, it used the newly marketed nitrate film produced by Eastman Kodak. This allowed for "films" of much greater length.

George Eastman's mansion in Rochester, NY.

Like virtually all the beautiful homes we've seen on this trip, George's mansion is full of beautiful rooms, fabulous furniture and incredible architectural detail.

The rooms