GPL Out On the Town takes us to the Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, NY. 

Meet us at the site location: 7000 County Road 41 (Boughton Hill Road) Victor, NY 14564.

Check-in time will begin at 1:45 PM with a Gates Public Library staff person. Please look for the GPL flag for onsite meeting location.

Ganondagan is the site of a 17th century Seneca village. The village of Ganondagan housed 150 bark longhouses and approximately 4,500 Seneca. Seneca people today regard Ganondagan as their “homelands”. Ganondagan is the only state historic site in New York dedicated to a Native American theme.

Tours begin in the Auditorium with a general orientation of the site and a viewing of the award-winning “Iroquois Creation Story” film. Groups are then divided and taken to the Seneca Art and Culture Center Gallery to learn the history of the Seneca people and the Town of Peace. The Seneca Art and Culture Center is a new gallery telling the rich and important history of the Seneca and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). Upon entering the building, visitors hear Seneca language and see the English interpretation of Ganönyö:k, sometimes referred to as the “Thanksgiving Address”, along with beautiful, contemporary imagery. The Gallery includes important artifacts, reproductions, multi-media, video, and hands-on experiences that help tell the trade story and share the history of the attack of the French on Ganondagan. The gallery also includes a large-scale town model of 17th-century Ganondagan, a 1/5 scale model of a Seneca Bark Longhouse, photography, illustrations, and contemporary art that share the history, culture and living traditions of the Seneca including, Ganondagan lifestyles then and now, and the significance of Wampum.

NOTE: Ganondagan is considered a sacred site to the Haudenosaunee. The location is significant to the historical origin of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. We ask that those who visit the site treat it with respect.

Please dress appropriately as it may be very windy and usually cooler on top of the hill.