for a day of learning and exchange
June 26, 2023 | By Kathryn Ross | Olean Times Herald | oleantimesherald.com
HOUGHTON — It has been 197 years since Native Americans have walked these hilltops and fished from the riverbank of this section of the Genesee River Valley, but on Saturday they are coming back to their ancestral lands.
The first Caneadea Field Day, of what is hoped will be many to come, is scheduled to take place in the Caneadea Town Park (behind the fire hall off Route 19 in Houghton). The event is being organized by the Seneca Nation and will be hosted by the town of Caneadea as a friendship and cultural exchange.
The Senecas were one of the six tribes of the Iroquois confederation, which controlled the territory which would become New York state. The Senecas lived on the far western frontier, which in the 1600s and 1700s was considered to be here, in what we now call Western New York. They were known as the Keepers of the Western Door.
There was a large native encampment on the great bend in the Genesee River, where the north-flowing river takes a deep turn to the east. “It is how you find Caneadea,” quipped Phyllis Gaerte, one of the organizers of the Seneca celebration.
The Caneadea Field Day is set for this coming Saturday.
There, many Senecas made their home up until the time of the Revolutionary War, when they were aligned with the British and went on raids against what was then the American frontier in New York and Pennsylvania. In 1779, Gen. John Sullivan was sent by Gen. George Washington on a military campaign to destroy the homes of the Senecas and other Iroquois tribes to neutralize their threat.
The Continental Army employed “scorched earth” tactics, destroying villages and croplands during the height of that year’s growing season to break the back of the Iroquois confederacy.
In 1797, in the Big Tree Treaty, land was set aside in Caneadea for a reservation. Today that site, according to Phil Stockin, Caneadea deputy town supervisor, was mostly on the east side of the river, or on Route 19 as you travel through Houghton. Stockin is also one of the organizers of the event.
Town historian Laura Habecker, also a member of the Field Day committee, said in 1826 the reservation was sold and many of the Senecas moved away, except for one notable exception, Copperhead, who claimed to be 120 years old when he died in 1864.
It was Copperhead’s resting place at the southern corner of the Houghton College campus that in October 2022 brought representatives of the Seneca Nation to “Where the Heavens Rest Upon the Earth.” Seneca President Rickey Armstrong Sr. and others were met by members of the town who escorted them to the known Seneca sites throughout the town.
It was then that the seeds of the idea to bring back the Seneca to their ancestral home were planted.
Local organizers say that it was suggested by the Senecas, who wanted to bring their people to the area which bore such significance to their history.
The town embraced the idea. Town Supervisor Michel Cox sent a letter to the Seneca Nation council stating, in part, “We want to honor the Seneca people and their history. With this in mind, we are extending a formal invitation to you, the Seneca Nation.”
Habecker said she had been wanting to see something like the upcoming event for many years — she formerly worked in Alaska with indigenous people.
Since January, the two groups have been meeting regularly and have pulled together an event which has been mostly the work of the Senecas. “They’ve organized a lot of it and have made it clear that they are the guests, and we are the hosts,” Gaerte said.
The Caneadea Field Day, as suggested by the term, will feature a lacrosse competition and demonstrations throughout the day as well as smoke dancing, a regalia competition, museum and historical displays, Seneca cultural exhibits, native crafts and food vendors. The fire department will serve a chicken barbecue. There will be a tent set aside for both native and non-native elders.
There will also be an exchange of gifts between the Senecas and town representatives and ceremonial black walnut trees will be planted.
“We will be flying both the town’s new flag and the Seneca flag as we greet each other in friendship,” Gaerte said.
The town hopes that the celebration will attract the public along with the hundreds of Senecas that are expected to attend.
“We want to make this a yearly event and expand it in the coming years to include other demonstrations that represent the culture of our Native American history,” Gaerte said.
