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
Tuscarora
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
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
Niagara County ‘Tuscarora Heroes’ Commemoration Dec 19th
December 19, 2017 marks the 204th Anniversary of the “Tuscarora Heroes.” Near Niagara Falls, in retaliation for the American forces burning the British held Canadian town of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Fort George ) during the War of 1812, British-Canadian forces and their First Nations allies captured Fort Niagara and attacked the poorly defended Town of Lewiston.
Though a number of civilians were killed during the burning of Lewiston, many more were saved by the actions of warriors from the nearby Tuscarora village who rushed to their aid. Creating a diversion long enough for many civilians to escape, the actions of the “Tuscarora Heroes” has become an important part of Lewiston’s history and shared memory. [Read more…] about Niagara County ‘Tuscarora Heroes’ Commemoration Dec 19th
Robert Moses’ Least Controversial Triumph: The Niagara Power Plant
The many controversies that surrounded Robert Moses during his long career as New York’s “Master Builder” were sharpened by his long battle with Jane Jacobs and by Robert Caro’s 1974 biography, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (1974).
But his least contentious achievements are also the most unknown: the construction of the New York Power Authority’s hydroelectric plants along the St. Lawrence and Niagara Rivers. [Read more…] about Robert Moses’ Least Controversial Triumph: The Niagara Power Plant