Ganodagen in the Seneca language means White Town, with white in Seneca tradition linked to peace, purity, and truth, and Seneca today preferring the translation Town of Peace. Seneca Traditionalists connect this town with the life of Jikonhsaseh, the Peace Mother, one of the founders of the Haudenosaunee, or League of the Iroquois. French attackers in 1687 called the town Gannagaro, Ganaguia, Gaensara, and Gazeroare, while a Christian Mohawk called it Kohoseraghe, names probably Mohawk in origin. In the 1840s, the Tonawanda Seneca knew this site as Gaosaehgaaah, meaning The basswood bark lies there, or Gaosagao, in the basswood country. Under its various names, this was the site of one of the four principal Seneca towns in 1687, with Totikton and Gannondata in the west and Gannagaro and Gannongarae in the east of the Seneca homeland as the French knew them.

Photo: Anton Schwarzmueller

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Victor, New York · USA