M'Clintock House: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Women's Rights National Historical Park

Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation

The M’Clintock House is part of Women’s Rights National Historical Park (NHP), located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The 7.44-acre park comprises four noncontiguous units that are thematically linked to the early nineteenth century Women’s Rights Movement in the United States and to the first Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls in 1848. The four units are the Wesleyan Chapel/Visitor Center and the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House in the incorporated village of Seneca Falls and the M’Clintock House and the Hunt House in the county seat of Waterloo. The M’Clintock House unit is located approximately four miles west of the Wesleyan Chapel/Visitor Center unit. It includes the residence of Thomas and Mary Ann M'Clintock, who, along with their daughters Elizabeth and Mary Ann, participated actively in the First Women’s Rights Convention. Members of the M’Clintock family and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the convention’s key document, known as the Declaration of Sentiments, in the parlor of the M’Clintock House. The focal point of the 0.60-acre unit is the M’Clintock House, built by Richard P. Hunt in c.1835. The site includes half of the original 2/3-acre lot purchased by Hunt in 1832 and acquired by the park in 1985. It also includes a portion of the adjacent lot and the Young House, also owned and built by Hunt in the 1830s and purchased by the park in 1999. In the mid-nineteenth-century the site was surrounded by commercial and residential development, including the M’Clintock drug store. After Hunt’s death, the M’Clintocks moved away and the parcels were subdivided, but the mix of land uses continued. Today the unit lies in the heart of downtown Waterloo, situated along the south side of East Williams Street, one block north of East Main Street (US Route 20/NY Route 5), a major local route running east/west through the region. The site’s topography is generally flat but noticeably higher at its south edge than the surrounding area. The landscape has the overall character of small residential lots and features a few shade and street trees and sidewalks set within maintained lawns. The interior and exterior of the M’Clintock House has been restored, but the Young House is currently vacant and in deteriorated condition. The site is defined by East Williams Street to the north, a small parking lot and driveway to the east, a larger parking lots to the south and west. The M’Clintock House is open from Memorial Day Weekend to Columbus Day Weekend on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and receives around 500 visitors. The Young House is not open to the public. The grounds are open dusk to dawn all year and parking is available in an adjacent paved lot to the east.

M'Clintock House: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Women's Rights National Historical Park

Series

Collections