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The Edges of Wood: Dendrochronological Analysis of Three Seneca Iroquois Log Structures at Letchworth State Park, New York

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Abstract

Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York, maintains the Caneadea Council House, the Nancy Jemison Cabin, and Thomas “Buffalo Tom” Jemison Cabin, all built in Seneca communities along the Genesee River valley in the early 19th century. Dendrochronological analysis of samples from these structures has provided a more precise construction date of ca. 1820 for the council house, significantly later than the 1759–1780 range derived from historical documents. However, the results support the historical construction dates of around 1800 for the Nancy Jemison Cabin and ca. 1818 for the Thomas Jemison Cabin. Applying K. Jordan’s (2008) intercultural/creolized type and Brown’s (2000) “Reservation Log House” type along with the lens of hybridity elucidates how the council house and cabins relate to Seneca decisions to incorporate principles of European-style log construction into their longhouse and other building forms in adaptation to their more confined territory and increased European American settlement and infrastructure building at that time.

Extracto

El Parque Estatal de Letchworth en Castile (Nueva York) mantiene la Vivienda Social Caneadea, la cabaña de Nancy Jemison, y la cabaña de Thomas “Buffalo Tom” Jemison, todas construidas en las comunidades de Seneca a lo largo del valle del Río Genesee a principios del siglo XIX. El análisis dendrocronológico de muestras de estas estructuras ha proporcionado una fecha de construcción más precisa de 1820 ca. para la vivienda social, significativamente posterior a 1759–1780, tal como se derivaba de los documentos históricos. Sin embargo, los resultados apoyan las fechas de construcción históricas en torno a 1800 para la cabaña de Nancy Jemison, y de 1818 ca. para la cabaña de Thomas Jemison. Aplicando el tipo intercultural/creolizado de K. Jordan (2008) y el tipo “casa de troncos de la reserva” de Brown (2000) junto con la lente de hibricidad se esclarece cómo la vivienda social y las cabañas se relacionan con las decisiones de Seneca de incorporar principios de la construcción de troncos de estilo europeo en su hogar comunal y otras formas de construcción para adaptarse a su construcción de infraestructura y asentamiento de territorio más confinado y más europeo-americano de esa época.

Résumé

Le parc d’État de Letchworth à Castille (New York), conserve la maison du conseil de Caneadea, la cabane de Nancy Jemison et la cabane de Thomas Jemison dit « Buffalo Tom », construites dans les communautés Senecas le long de la vallée de la rivière Genesee au début du XIXe siècle. L’analyse dendrochronologique des échantillons provenant de ces structures a apporté une date de construction plus précise qui est. d’environ 1820 pour la maison du conseil, nettement plus tardive que 1759–1780, obtenue à partir de documents historiques. Toutefois, les résultats confirment les dates de construction historique d’environ 1800 pour la cabane de Nancy Jemison et de 1818 pour la cabane de Thomas Jemison. Le fait d’appliquer le type interculturel/créolisé de K. Jordan (2008) et le type de la « maison de rondins de réserve » de Brown (2000), ainsi que l’angle de l’hybridité, détermine comment la maison du conseil et les cabanes sont liées aux décisions des Senecas d’intégrer les principes de construction en bois de style européen dans leur cabane et d’autres formes de construction pour s’adapter à leur territoire plus restreint, à l’accroissement de la colonisation américaine européenne et à la construction des infrastructures à ce moment-là.

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Notes

  1. The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca, New York, employs different Seneca terms for longhouse (ganöhse:s) and log cabin (degëöda:dö) in its “Longhouse Room” and “Log Cabin Room” exhibits, noting the differences between those housing modes. These exhibits also aim to point out that log-cabin use did not preclude the continuation of Seneca lifeways (Seneca-Iroquois National Museum 2013).

  2. The low proportion of manufactured personal items, prevalence of deer in the faunal assemblage, and a high proportion of European American arms-related artifacts at the Vanatta site also demonstrate the continuation of pre-reservation Seneca lifeways, such as deer hunting (Lantz 1980:36–38, table 3). Professor Kurt Jordan discussed this interpretation during his fall 2013 Haudenosaunee archaeology course at Cornell University.

  3. Few dendrochronology studies of historical structures in the Northeast have included white pine, e.g., Bonzani et al. (1991), Griggs (2008), and Young-Vigneault et al. (2012), and they have mainly focused on European American constructions.

  4. Delawares who had settled with missionaries at Fairfield on the Thames River in Ontario starting in 1792 built a number of log houses (Ferris 2009:84–86). They exhibited Delaware longhouse traits, such as central hearths, uncovered floors (though some had planked floors and glass windows), and moss chinking, as well as cornerstones or log sections, which Ferris (2009:86–88) contends could indicate that the corners were dovetailed.

  5. Native Americans, including Delawares, influenced what became Midland American culture, for instance, through sharing hunting strategies when Europeans established New Sweden (T. Jordan and Kaups 1989:90–92,247). Hamell (1992:43–45) notes instances of European Americans drawing from Haudenosaunee and Algonquian house styles.

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Acknowledgments:

This article is an abbreviated and revised version of a master’s thesis completed at Cornell University in August 2015. I also presented portions of this research at the New York State Archaeological Association 98th Annual Meeting in April 2014, for which I received a Cornell Graduate Conference Travel Grant. I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Kurt A. Jordan, and Professor Jon Parmenter and Dr. Carol Griggs for serving on my thesis committee and providing indispensable help and guidance. Thanks also go to Professor Sturt Manning, Dr. Linah Ababneh, Dr. Brita Lorentzen, and Kate Seufer of the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory, Seneca faithkeeper Peter Jemison, Christopher Flagg of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, historic site manager Brian Scriven of Letchworth State Park, Ted Bartlett, and Tom Cook. A Hirsch Graduate Scholarship from the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies funded my travel to the park to take samples in May 2014. James D. Folts of the New York State Archives provided copies of the drawings of the Kanadesaga council house and Butler’s house, as well as the house at Genesee Town. Cornelia S. King of the Library Company of Philadelphia located the images in that institution’s collections. George Hamell kindly provided me a copy of his 1992 paper on Seneca housing. Finally, a number of faculty (Kurt A. Jordan, Christopher Monroe, and Adam T. Smith) and graduate students (Peregrine Gerard-Little, Eilis Monahan, Nils Niemeier, Samantha Sanft, and Kathryn Weber) from Cornell University shared helpful comments and suggestions at a work-in-progress open seminar at the university in February 2015.

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    Cynthia A. Kocik

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Kocik, C.A. The Edges of Wood: Dendrochronological Analysis of Three Seneca Iroquois Log Structures at Letchworth State Park, New York. Hist Arch 51, 194–217 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-017-0014-6

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