Ganondagan State Historic Site facts for kids
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Boughton Hill
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Ganondagan Long House
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 Location in New York
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| Location | Victor, NY |
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| Built | 1670 |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000559 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | July 19, 1964 |
Ganondagan State Historic Site (pronounced ga·NON·da·gan), also known as Boughton Hill, is a special place in New York. It's important to Native American history. This site was once the biggest village of the Seneca nation in the 1600s. Today, you can find it in the Town of Victor. The village had other names too, like Gannagaro and Canagora.
The site has two main parts. The Boughton Hill area is about 245 acres. This is where the Seneca people lived in longhouses and buried their loved ones. It's so important that it's been named a National Historic Landmark. The other part is Fort Hill, which is 33 acres. This area had a strong storage place for food. The state of New York now takes care of this historic site.
Contents
History of Ganondagan
Seneca Traditions and the Great Peace
The Seneca people, like many other Native American groups, were skilled farmers. They grew three main crops together: corn, beans, and squash. These are often called the "Three Sisters." Women were very important in farming. They grew different types of each crop. The beans would climb the tall cornstalks, and the big squash leaves helped stop weeds from growing.
Ganondagan was once the largest town of the Seneca nation. The Seneca were known as the "western gateway" of the Haudenosaunee (pronounced HO-dee-no-SHOW-nee). This group is also called the Iroquois Confederacy. The story of how the Haudenosaunee came together is very important here. It's about a person called the Peacemaker. He helped five major Native American groups become one strong confederacy. This confederacy still exists today.
Seneca stories say that a man from the Huron nation came to the Mohawk people. He spoke about the Gayanesshagowa, or the Great Law of Peace. This leader is now known as the Great Peacemaker. The Mohawk, Oneida, and Cayuga agreed to join his idea for a confederation. After some exciting events, the Seneca also agreed.
A very important discussion happened at Ganondagan. It was in the home of Jikonsase, a wise Seneca woman elder. She is now known as the "Mother of Nations." She suggested a way to bring the Onondaga nation into the group. Her idea gave the Onondaga a special role in the confederacy. Jikonsase lived near Ganondagan and is buried there.
Because of this story, the Seneca call Ganondagan the "Town of Peace." They deeply respect and protect Jikonsase's burial site. The Great Law of Peace is more important to them than the attack that later destroyed the village. The Seneca people have always found ways to solve problems peacefully. In 1988, the United States Senate even recognized how the Iroquois Confederacy helped shape the U.S. Constitution.
Early European Visitors
In 1656, a Jesuit priest named Father Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot visited the Seneca nation. He met with the elders of Ganondagan. He shared his beliefs and gave them gifts to show friendship. By 1668, the Jesuits had churches in all five Iroquois nations. Father James Fremin was assigned to the Seneca and the Mission of St. Jacques. However, the Seneca later asked the missionaries to leave in 1684 due to growing tensions with the French.
In 1669, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Father René de Bréhant de Galinée traveled to Ganondagan. Galinée wrote about the village:
This village, like all those of the Indians, is nothing but a lot of cabins, surrounded with palisades of poles twelve or thirteen feet high, fastened together at the top and planted in the ground, with great piles of wood the height of a man behind these palisades, the curtains being not otherwise flanked, merely a simple enclosure, perfectly square, so that these forts are not defensible.
—René Brehan de Galinée, (americanjourneys.org)
In 1677, an English official named Wentworth Greenhalgh visited the Iroquois nations. He wanted them to become allies with the British. He stopped at Ganondagan, calling it Canagora. He wrote that the people were happy to see them ride their horses. He also mentioned that some prisoners were treated very harshly during his visit.
In 1678, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Father Louis Hennepin also visited Ganondagan. Hennepin called it Tagorondies. He noted that other Jesuit priests were there and that there was a "little Chapel made of Barks of Trees." He described the Seneca people:
These Savages are for the most part tall, and very well shap'd, cover'd with a sort of Robe made of Beavers and Wolves-Skins, or of black Squirrels, holding a Pipe or Calumet in their Hands. The Senators of Venice do not appear with a graver Countenance, and perhaps don't speak with more Majesty and Solidity, than those ancient Iroquese.
—Louis Hennepin, (Google Play)
The Destruction of Ganondagan
On June 13, 1687, a French leader named Marquis de Denonville led an army from Canada. His army had many French soldiers and Native American allies. Their goal was to stop the Seneca from trading furs with the English. The French wanted to control the valuable fur trade. This conflict was part of what was called the Beaver Wars. Native American tribes also fought each other to gain power in the fur trade.
Denonville wrote that on July 13, his French forces were attacked by about 800 Seneca warriors near Ganondagan. He said the Seneca quickly fled. Denonville reported that 5 or 6 French soldiers were killed and 20 were hurt. He claimed 45 Seneca were killed and 60 were wounded. However, a British report, based on talks with Seneca warriors, said the Seneca force was smaller. It had about 450 people, including many young men and some women who fought.
The British report also said that most of the villagers had already moved to safety. They had even set fire to their own homes before the French arrived. When the French reached the village on July 14, Denonville reported that they found it burned. They also found a nearby fort empty. The French army destroyed a huge amount of corn, both stored and still growing. They destroyed 1.2 million bushels of corn from four Seneca villages. After this, they moved west and destroyed another village called Totiakton before returning to their boats.
After this battle, the Seneca people moved eastward. The villages of Gandagora and Gandougarae seem to have joined together. They first settled near Canandaigua and later east of Canandaigua Lake.
During the American Revolutionary War, the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 attacked Seneca towns again. These attacks happened in places like Geneva, Canandaigua, and along Seneca Lake (New York).
Protecting the Site Today
For over a hundred years after the American Revolutionary War, the Seneca continued to use this area for farming. In the 1930s, a Seneca chief named Freeman Johnson began working to protect the land. People were stealing old artifacts from the site. In 1964, Boughton Hill was named a National Historic Landmark. Then, in 1987, the state historic park was officially created.
The Seneca people have made many important contributions to the United States. Their political ideas, especially from the Iroquois Confederacy, influenced the U.S. Constitution. The Seneca also had a matrilineal kinship system. This meant that family lines and property were passed down through the mother. Children belonged to their mother's family and clan, which decided their social standing. This system gave women a lot of power. In 1848, at Seneca Falls, New York, American women created a declaration of rights. They wanted similar power and rights, but they did not get the right to vote until 1920.
Ganondagan Today
Today, Ganondagan is the site of a major 17th-century Seneca village. You can see a rebuilt Seneca longhouse and a small visitor center. The original village covered about nine acres. It had homes, storage areas, fields, and places for animals. There were nearly 150 longhouses here, along with burial grounds. The village was surrounded by large corn fields. A strong, fortified granary was at the Fort Hill site. This area was known as the "breadbasket" for the Haudenosaunee. The Seneca supplied much of the Iroquois Confederacy with corn.
The park has miles of trails across more than 560 acres. The "Friends of Ganondagan" group works hard to protect this land and the Seneca cultural traditions.
