Hiking Ganondagan Historic Site

Hi Blog! Today is Monday, October 27, 2014.  This is our last full day in the Farmington-Canandaigua area of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.  We were sort of cooped up inside yesterday with ever changing weather. We were really looking forward to getting out today and stretching our legs.  We didn't want to drive too far, since we are moving down into Pennsylvania tomorrow.  Dave found a great local hiking area - Ganondagan State Historic Site. Here is Dave at the trailhead for the Trail of Peace.

A little further down the trail we come across this Seneca family.

The dedication of the long-awaited Bark Longhouse at Ganondagan State Historic Site took place on July 25, 1998. The Bark Longhouse represents the return of a traditional Seneca dwelling to a site razed in 1687 by the French Marquis de Denonville. The Longhouse is now furnished as closely as possible to an original 1670 longhouse, complete with replicas of European and colonial trade goods and items created and crafted by the Seneca. Also in the longhouse are crops, herbs, and medicines grown, harvested, and preserved by the Seneca who lived atop the hill at Ganondagan. Unfortunately, the Longhouse was closed for the season on September 30th. We just had to settle for an exterior photo.

As we followed the various trails around the historic site, they had numerous historical markers. The marker here explained the graveyards the early French discovered after burning the nearby village. The bare trees in this area were very spooky. Knowing there was an Indian Graveyard right below our feet was sort of unsettling.

Soon the trail led us away from the village toward Fort Hill, the location of the Ganondagan grain stores. The French were under orders to attack each and every village in the Canandaigua area and destroy their houses, crops and warehouses. This extermination was done to clear the way for French fur traders in the New World and eliminate the competition they faced from local Native Americans, who tended to favor the British.

This boardwalk travels through a marshy area where young warriors made a last stand to protect the granary on Fort Hill.

The Great Brook flows through the site. A small plank bridge was placed across the main flow. If you look closely, you can see ropes tied to either end.  I guess the folks at the Historical Site were tired of fetching their bridge every time the stream flooded and washed it away.

All along the top of Fort Hill were various interpretive signs with excerpts from the diaries and journal of various historical figures describing the sacking of the city of Ganondagan and the three other neighboring communities. Looking out over this beautiful landscape it is hard to imagine what the good people of Ganondagan must have felt when the French descended upon them and changed their lives forever.

Having reach the height of land, we decided this would make a perfect lunch spot.

After relaxing for a few minutes and talking with some local dog walkers, it was soon back to our trekking.  Our plan was to leave the Historic Site and set out on the Seneca Trail.  The Seneca Trail was a system of Native American footpaths extending from what is now upper New York State to deep within Alabama. Various Indians traded and made war along the trails. To be honest, no one knows anymore exactly where the original Seneca Trail ran, but it is known that the Seneca Indians maintained a trail from Bare Hill by Canandaigua Lake through Ganondagan to Irondequoit Bay north of here, a widening of Irondequoit Creek as it empties into Lake Ontario, at least paralleling the current Seneca Trail maintained by Victor Hiking Trails, Inc.

There are plenty more markers to see along the way:

As the trail led away from the Historic Site, we climbed the height of land and looked down upon the Great Brook.

Here is Dave walking the plank.

We reached our turnaround point on the Seneca Trail and headed back to the Historic Site along the Grasslands Trail.

Back on the Purple Trail, Dave gets his Ganondagan lean on.

After 6.6 miles, we finally closed our loop. We enjoyed our walk in the woods today. It would have been nice if the Visitor Center was open, but it didn't lessen our enjoyment of the great outdoors.