Seneca Art and Culture Center at Ganondagan State Historic Site 7100 County Road 41 (review)

NESTLED IN ROLLING HILLS approximately twenty miles south of Rochester, New York, Ganondagan State Historic Site is the only New York State park devoted to Native American history and culture. Known as a seventeenth-century "town of peace" within the homelands of the Seneca Nation, Ganondagan has been a national historic landmark since the 1960s and was designated a state park in 1986. Since the 1980s G. Peter Jemison, Heron Clan of the Seneca Nation and longtime site manager, has developed an interpretive vision that includes a series of nature trails and a replica longhouse where public programming takes place. In October 2015 a new visitor center—the Seneca Art and Culture Center—opened at the historic site. This 17,300-square-foot facility is open year-round. It incorporates a permanent exhibit explaining the late seventeenth-century history of Ganondagan, a small screening room for the short film Iroquois Creation Story (2015), additional performance space and offices, as well as a gift shop.

While Ganondagan is a state park administered by the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, the interpretive focus of the Seneca Art and Culture Center, as well as the larger 225-acre site, emphasizes Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) worldviews. The architecture of the Seneca Art and Culture Center, including the landscape design surrounding the new building and its adjacent parking area, incorporates elements of Haudenosaunee beliefs and practices. Approaching the center from the parking lot, visitors walk along the "thorny path," passing stone markers that gesture toward Haudenosaunee protocols for welcoming newcomers. These markers, along with a water feature and a small perpetual fire outside the entrance to the center, provide visitors with an initial orientation. Immediately inside the entryway, a large case of contemporary artwork and a video installation featuring a recitation of Ganonyo:k (the Words That Come Before All Else, or the Thanksgiving Address) further situate visitors within this Haudenosaunee place. Once inside the building, visitors may note that the floor plan of this modern structure features a central corridor illuminated by skylights, echoing the traditional architecture of Haudenosaunee longhouses where living quarters for numerous families were arranged on both sides of a central corridor; several fire pits positioned in the corridor, providing heat; and smoke holes in the roof, facilitating ventilation.

Haudenosaunee epistemologies are engaged more explicitly through the short film and exhibit that are central features of the Seneca Art and Culture Center. Iroquois Creation Story, a seventeen-minute film that was produced collaboratively by Ganondagan and Rochester Institute of Technology, combines animation with dance by traditional Haudenosaunee dancers and the Garth Fagan Dance Company. It tells the story of Skywoman, her descent from Skyworld, the formation of Turtle Island, and the origin of onkwehonwe (Indigenous peoples). Across from the screening room, the permanent exhibit develops a rich discussion of the Ganondagan settlement, situating the community within Haudenosaunee and colonial contexts. An initial panel titled "Onondowa'ga:' Ways of Knowing" alerts visitors to Seneca ways of understanding and transmitting knowledge that must be considered alongside European documentation practices and methodologies for interpreting the past. Throughout the permanent exhibit, panels and displays engage multiple approaches to the past, including oral traditions, the material record, and the documentary record. Additionally, while the exhibit emphasizes the seventeenth-century history of Ganondagan (including trade, diplomacy, violence, and daily life), modern Seneca life also features prominently. Panels highlighting music, dance, art, and language are complemented by videos and audio "storytelling stations" that bring contemporary Seneca voices into the exhibit. There is an entire wall dedicated to Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team.

The Seneca Art and Culture Center offers a detailed, nuanced interpretation of the seventeenth-century history of the community at Ganondagan. The permanent exhibit, featuring carefully selected objects and documents that are paired with thought-provoking panels, dioramas, video, and audio, offers numerous opportunities for engagement by visitors of all ages. One of the strengths of...