Colonial life in New York revealed in 18th-century map
An 18th-century map of what is now the New York state offers insights into colonial life by showing Seneca and Cayuga villages and native footpaths in addition to natural features.
Now part of the American history and culture collections in Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collection, the manuscript, drawn by prominent Albany-based mapmaker and surveyor John Rutse Bleecker, consists of three maps: a finished map of Hudson County, and sketched maps of Schoharie Creek and Seneca and Cayuga territory.
The Seneca-Cayuga map depicts Cayuga and Seneca lakes as well as six small triangles representing indigenous villages. Five of these villages are named, and all are connected by a network of dotted lines indicating footpaths.
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Researchers say the map was likely created between 1760 and 1770. By then, the Finger Lakes region was well known to European colonists, but they had limited access for detailed surveying. For example, a spot on Cayuga Lake labelled “Tarry” on the map was probably a spot where people waited for canoes to come and ferry them across to the other shore. A spot near what is now Montezuma, N.Y. is labelled, “The resort of geese and ducks of all sorts all the year.”
“There’s a lot of exciting detail here,” Jon Parmenter, associate professor of history, said.
The Cornell University professor thinks it’s one of the most detailed early European reconnaissance of what are now called the Finger Lakes.
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