In the summer of 1779, the Cayuga Nation fell to the invading armies of the colonists dispatched from downstate by Gen. George Washington. He determined that the nation had formed an alliance with the British, aiding and abetting their war effort, and providing them access to bountiful harvests.

A detachment of American troops subsequently destroyed the villages and harvests of the Cayugas on both sides of Cayuga Lake. Their quarry had already fled. In their wake, chroniclers of the event took note of physical evidence shedding light on the lifestyle of the vanquished Cayugas. As time went on, early settlers incorporated the ways of the Cayugas into their own emerging culture. It is ironic that the demise of one way of life helped set the tone for colonial life in what is now central New York.

The Cayugas lived on a promontory bisected by a deep ravine which sometimes held water from a rapid stream. The area today is called Great Gully and remains as the native center of the Cayuga homeland. Their main villages, Cayuga Castle, Upper Cayuga and East Village, sat surrounding the hilltop. Throughout the seasons, they sat high and dry with pitched roofs pointed at the sky and firm, dry foundations.

Early American landowners built on hilltops whenever possible to avoid flooding. They also emulated the log construction of the Cayugas. Their pitched roofs allowed precipitation a means of escape. Also, the basement floors of mud and clay tended to remain dry during winter and spring, and cool during the hot days of summer.

The Cayugas farmed extensively and learned to store new varieties of fruits and vegetables for future use. Thus seeds and food found their way underground in large clay pots. Salt, found along the southwestern shore of Cayuga Lake, became a favorite preservative of the Cayugas. It is no accident that the colonials came to store their food underground and adopted salt as a preservative.

The Cargill Salt Works now mines extensively where the Cayugas long ago discovered salt. The Cornell Experimental Station, on the site of the former village of Kanandesaga, had pioneered fruit and vegetable propagation and harkens back to the period in which the Cayugas enjoyed bountiful harvests there. Roadways led out of the main Cayuga villages and provided communication links with other groups of native people. One may conceivably trace the Cayuga trail as it came from the east from Cayuga Castle along routes 5 and 20 to Clark Street, Aurelius Avenue, Wall Street, south to State Street and on to Owasco Lake.

Masters of their environment, the Cayugas converted natural herbs and roots into medicinal components. Therefore, what are called vitamins today trace their origins to the early inhabitants of Cayuga County. And in their swift and resilient canoes, the Cayugas conquered the lake bearing their name, thus lending one more tool to the colonials in their struggle for survival.

Fogarty writes from Auburn