Initially, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) claimed neutrality during the conflict between Britain and the colonists, seeing the disagreement as a civil war and valuing loyalty to their families and to their lands above all else. When the political discontent erupted into the American Revolutionary War, the member nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy split their support between the British and newly formed American forces. [Read more…] about The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes
Cayuga Nation
Euro-American Expansion Into The Finger Lakes Region
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 officially ended hostilities between the British and Americans; however, the treaty did not include the allied Indian Nations, leaving their legacy treaties with the Europeans unresolved and their future to be resolved through separate treaties with the new American government. [Read more…] about Euro-American Expansion Into The Finger Lakes Region
Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region
According to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.
Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region
National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation
On Tuesday, July 18th, the National Park Service delivered the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Feasibility Study to Congress. The feasibility study determined that the study area in the Finger Lakes region of New York state meets the criteria to be eligible for inclusion as part of the National Heritage Area System. [Read more…] about National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation
White Pines: Physically & Culturally Colossal
The eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) isn’t really a crop-bearing tree, but it has borne priceless fruit for American democracy. Physically as well as culturally massive, there are many accounts from the early 1800s of white pines over 200 feet tall being harvested. One credible report pegs a white pine at 247 feet, and unverified accounts have claimed that 300-foot-tall leviathans were cut back then. [Read more…] about White Pines: Physically & Culturally Colossal