Sainte Marie among the Iroquois
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Sainte Marie among the Iroquois (originally known as ''Sainte Marie de Gannentaha'' or ''St. Mary's of Ganantaa'') was a 17th-century
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
located in the middle of the
Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...
nation of the Haudenosaunee/
Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
. It was located on
Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...
near modern-day
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
. The original mission was in use only from 1656 to 1658. A modern replica is in operation as a museum and interpretive center. It is open between May and October as a "living history" project, with costumed interpreters on weekends during the Summer. Sainte Marie among the Iroquois is a
living history museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recre ...
and part of the
Onondaga County Onondaga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 476,516. The county seat is Syracuse. Onondaga County is the core of the Syracuse, NY MSA. History The name ''Onondaga'' derives from ...
parks system, and is therefore designated as a
municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...
itself. The site, while county-owned, is operated by volunteers who provide all of the programming and maintain the displays. The site is currently being renovated and the interior of the fort is closed.


Museum

The interpretive center/museum is a two-story building which houses some of Onondaga County Park's collection of artifacts. Inside visitors can see exhibits and is able to schedule tours for all age groups. A gift shop is also inside on the first floor.


Mission

The Mission itself is located behind the museum and accessed by using the second floor doors. There is a small encampment between the museum and mission site where reed huts stand. The Haudenosaunee and French used encampments like this as camp sites when traveling. They were located in between traveling paths, roughly a days hike from each other. The Mission itself is surrounded by a high palisade and contains a chapel, refectory (dining hall), dormitory (sleeping area), workshops (carpentry and blacksmith), and pens for animals. Outside the palisade are gardens (vegetable and herb) and a baking oven.


History


Establishment

The ''
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
'' built the mission at the invitation of the
Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...
nation of the
Iroquois Confederation The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
. The Iroquois Confederation was also known as the Iroquois League previously. Due to ongoing warfare between the
Mohawks The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...
and
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, the Onondagas were anxious to broker peace between the two parties. The French built a stockade and a few buildings overlooking
Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...
(Ganantaa in Iroquois). In addition to the Jesuit missionaries and their Doneé servants/tradesmen, a contingent of French Coureur des bois (Runners of the Wood) were sent to defend the mission.


Abandonment

After two years, the Mohawks threatened to attack the mission, and a new French Governor lost interest in the project. The entire group fled safely in 1658. No further missions in Iroquois territory were attempted by the French.


Reconstructed mission and museum


The French "Fort"

In the 1930s, a replica of Sainte Marie de Ganentaa was built on a bluff overlooking
Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...
as part of the Works Progress Administration/WPA program. However, a "wild west" style fort was built instead of a more historically accurate French mission. It is believed this is due to a passing reference to a "French fort" that a French war expedition, led by
Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a nu ...
, had built in 1696 on the shore of Onondaga Lake. This "fort" was just an encampment of tents with a small palisade around it and was only occupied for about two weeks. The site that the new "French fort" was built upon was close to the original location since the original was covered by the parking lot of LeMoyne Manor. Starting in the 1970s it was run by Onondaga County Parks with costumed interpreters who portrayed the French and Haudenosaunee who had lived there. The style of interpretation was 3rd-person, meaning that the people portraying the characters dressed like the characters they represented, but spoke of them in the third person ( Third-person).


Museum redesign

In the early 1990s a redesign of the "Fort" was executed. The entire site was rebuilt to match more closely what the original French mission was like. Money was raised along with grants, such as from the LWCF (Land and Water Conservation Fun

to fund the massive undertaking. The design was planned using research gathered from the Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France, Jesuit Relations, other first-hand accounts, and the design of Sainte Marie's sister mission -
Sainte Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (french: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the ...
. While the more historically accurate mission site was much smaller than the "French Fort", an interpretive center/museum was also built. This allowed Sainte Marie to have a variety of displays about Native and French culture ca. 1650.


Closing and reopening of the museum

By the early 2000s Sainte Marie was closed. This was due to waning public attendance (due to the mission never changing its programming) and budget cuts. However, a dedicated grassroots movement began to petition for the re-opening of the site. The Friends of Historic Onondaga Lake (FoHOL) formed as a non-profit volunteer based fund-raising organization that offered to run the site for the county. In 2004 Onondaga County Parks formed an agreement with FoHOL that the organization's volunteers would run the site, provide programming, and raise money to fund such endeavours. In return the County would allow the use of the facility, access to the museum's collection, and provide utilities/maintenance. The volunteers worked to replace the displays, some of which had been moved to other museums, and redesign the layout. It was also decided that the interpretive aspect of the museum would become 3rd-person. This allowed the volunteers, and the museum itself, to have some latitude in providing tours to the public. It meant that the tour guides could discuss what happened after the mission was abandoned, offer new/changing programming, and to tailor their tours to the interests of the groups who came.


Museum closure

In 2011, the museum and mission site were temporarily closed to the public. This was due to the Onondaga County Parks, led by the Parks Commissioner William Lansley, County Executive Joanne Moahoney, and retiring Onondaga County Legislature Chair James Rhinehart seeking to turn half of the second floor display area into rentable offices for the Onondaga County Soil & Water Conservation District. However, New York State has said that the parkland upon which the facility is on is protected by the LWCF (Land and Water Conservation Fund), due to the fund money used in the construction of the museum/visitor's center and thus designated for recreational park use only. In order for the Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District to move into the planned rentable space, an Alienation Act, related to
Alienation (property law) In property law, alienation is the voluntary act of an owner of some property to dispose of the property, while alienability, or being alienable, is the capacity for a piece of property or a property right to be sold or otherwise transferred from ...
, must be passed in the New York State Senate and Assembly. Despite this, Matthew J. Millea, the Deputy County Executive for Physical Services for the Mahoney administration, insisted that the current project did not need to follow the LWCF. Due to the closure, and the locks being changed on the volunteers who provide all of the museum's programming, the popular Christmas Around the World event was canceled along with all other planned events.


Skä•noñh - Great Law of Peace Center

As of January 1, 2013, the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) took over management of the site previously known as "Sainte Marie among the Iroquois", on the eastern shore of Onondaga Lake. Opening on November 2, 2015, the facility is now a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) heritage and educational center named the Skä•noñh Center – Great Law of Peace Center. Skä•noñh, is an Onondaga welcoming greeting meaning Peace and Wellness.


See also

*
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
*
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
*
Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
*
History of New York (state) The history of New York begins around 10,000 B.C. when the first people arrived. By 1100 A.D. two main cultures had become dominant as the Iroquoian and Algonquian developed. European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da ...
*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...
*
Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...
*
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (french: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the p ...


Notes


References

Peter R. Eisenstadt (ed.), Laura-Eve Moss (ed.): ''The Encyclopedia of New York State''. Syracuse University Press, 2005, , p
1346


External links


Skä•noñh-Great Law of Peace Center
* Journal of what occurred between the French and Savages
Catholic Encyclopedia: ''Syracuse - Missions Among the Indians''Indian Country Today: ''Volunteers drive museum's revival''
{{Coord, 43.09300, -76.19637, source:placeopedia, display=title French-American culture in New York (state) Museums in Onondaga County, New York Living museums in New York (state) Native American museums in New York (state) Catholic missions of New France Defunct museums in New York (state) Jesuit missions Onondaga Lake