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The
people's choice in Livingston County... and beyond!
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"Skano?" Or, in Iroquois slang, "How goes it? What's up?"
Just what is up at Ganondagan State Historic Site high on Boughton Hill
in Victor, Ontario County, depends on your interests.
Are you a history buff? Then Ganondagan is the place for learning Seneca
history and that of the Iroquois Confederacy.
Is visiting historic battle sites your hobby? Then Ganondagan's Fort Hill,
or Gah-a-yan-duk as the Seneca call it, is the place to relive the 1687
French attack on the prosperous 17th century Seneca town.
Do you like to picnic? Or just to walk? Both can be done on the site's 277
acres that include three walking trails.
The Earth Is Our Mother Trail winds down and through a landscape rich in
the plants, trees and shrubs used by the Seneca for their everyday necessities.
Walking it and reading the illustrated signs giving botanical information
takes about an hour.
The Trail of Peace is a shorter walk, taking 20-25 minutes. Along this trail
the illustrated signs depict Seneca oral tradition.
It takes 30 minutes to walk the Granary Trail where signs detail the 1687
battle, a French effort, under the command of the Marquis de Denonville,
to destroy the Seneca. In the battle's aftermath, Ganondagan went into a
300-year decline.
In the 1700s the rush of European settlers into the area turned the site
into fields and pastures. In the 1880s, Boughton Hill (the non-Indian name
for Ganondagan) was a favorite spot for picnicking. It still is-on a carry-in,
carry-out basis.
While you walk or picnic, you will see Ganondagan as a link to early Native
American culture and history.
Yet, you don't have to be a history fan to experience Ganondagan. According
to Leigh Jones, site education person, visitors often tell her they enjoy
Ganondagan because "it is a contemplative place."
If you go: Ganondagan State Historic Site, 1488 Victor-Holcomb Road,
Victor. 716-924-5848.
·Trails open year round, 8 a.m. to sunset, weather permitting. Visitor
Center open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 1-5 p.m., Sundays, mid-May
through October.
·Group tours are available by reservation two weeks in advance.
Summer events include Indigenous Music of the Americas series, second Saturday
of month, June through September: Native American Dance and Music, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m., July 26-27, 1997
·Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois Museum, Liverpool, N.Y., 315-453-6767
·Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, Salamanca, 716-945-1738
Joan Merkel Smith is a freelance writer who also publishes in Balloon Life,
Charleston Magazine and the Sandlapper.
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