Visiting the Susan. B. Anthony Birthplace Museum

Adams is a small town in northwest Massachusetts. At the foot of Mount Greylock, Adams has a long, storied history that stretches back to its founding before the American Revolution. Adams is best known as the birthplace of a woman who would rewrite American History.

Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams on February 15, 1820, to Daniel and Lucy Read Anthony. She was the second oldest of seven children. She lived in the house until she was 6, when her parents moved the family to Battenville, New York. Today, her birthplace home remains a testament to the life of Anthony and her accomplishments that changed the fabric of our nation.

“Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.”

Susan B. Anthony

Visiting the Museum and Home

The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum showcases Anthony’s early years. Exhibits explain her life growing up a part of six generations of Quakers. Displays show what the daily routine was like for the large Anthony family. There is also a recreation of Anthony’s father’s small rural store he ran out of the home. The story helped supply the needs of Adam’s textile workers.

The “Birthing Room” is a highlight for many who visit. It was here that Susan B. Anthony was born. When we were standing in the room where an American legend was born, a sense of pride overcame us. There is a quilt on a bed that is a replica of one Anthony made herself. There is also an extensive collection of memorabilia, including a ton that deals with work promoting women’s suffrage.

“Failure is impossible.”

Susan B. Anthony

An entire room is dedicated to Susan B. Anthony’s life and accomplishments. Some displays discuss her early activism in the temperance movement, abolitionism, opposition to abortion, suffrage, and the 19th Amendment, which Anthony would not live to see.

The museum has a small fee, but we can’t recommend it enough. Our tour guide was excellent. He gave us a private tour, despite the last tour schedule for the day already ending.

“I pray every single moment of my life, not on my knees but with my work. My prayer is to lift women to equality with men. Work and worship are one with me.”

Susan B. Anthony

You can reserve a tour in advance. Check their website for hours. There are also various things to do in the area during your visit. Herman Melville’s home “Arrowhead” is just down the road. Famed poet, Robert Frost’s grave, is nearby in Bennington, Vermont, and the Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site is just across the border in New York.