Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ

The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ people had many towns, roads, settlements and trade routes throughout the Finger Lakes region and there are Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ who live here today. They have a special knowledge and relationship with the forest biomes of this area that drew on thousands of generations of experience living in the Finger Lakes. Some historic accounts inaccurately portray the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ as agrarians who farmed the land to depletion and periodically moved on to find more fertile ground. This is disputed by Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ oral histories and land management practices.

Though most Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ were displaced, and many killed, after the Clinton-Sullivan campaign destroyed their homes, towns, and crops they were and are very much tied to this place through their songs, plant knowledge, place names, and spirituality.

Within the Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih, the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ were designated as the people who would welcome and host refuge tribes. The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ  had long known the Deyodi:ho:nǫˀ (commonly, Tutelo) and had traveled to their lands regularly as friends. The Deyodi:ho:nǫˀ were invited to live here as they fled to escape the pressures of white settlement in Virginia and South Carolina. They believed that the strength of the Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih Confederacy would protect them from white settlers. For around 70 years, this was true. They settled at the southern end of Cayuga Lake, opposite the inlet from Buttermilk Falls, and called the town Coreorgonel. There they planted crops of watermelon, peaches, corn, built homes, and raised their families as citizens of the Confederacy.

This plant walk features the significance, uses, and lore of the selected plants to the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ community. It recognizes the first stewards of the land as the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ and offers a moment of reflection on our place on this land that was meant to be a refuge to foreigners. The plant walk project was co-created with Steve Henhawk, a local Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ citizen and Mike Roberts of the Town of Ithaca Conservation board. The knowledge and language Mr. Henhawk generously shares with us here was shared in the hope that people who visit know more about the place these plants inhabit today within his culture, more about the history of this place, but most of all that the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ, like the plants found here, still thrive in the Finger Lakes today.

Focusing an interpretive effort at Tutelo Park is significant. The park was established through an effort in the 1990s to commemorate Coreorgonel, which was located in the vicinity of the park, and which was razed by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dearborn troops. Coreorgonel consisted of about 25 homes with other clusters of homes nearby.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to Mr. Henhawk for his time and knowledge.