During the 17th century the French settled in Canada. The people of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy lived south of the French Canadian settlements. The Confederacy was comprised of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The French and Native Americans were interested in trading with one another. The Native Americans traded furs for glass beads, cloth, and metal tools. As part of a 1653 peace treaty the Iroquois invited the French to visit the land of the Onondagas.
Father Simon LeMoyne, a Jesuit priest, was chosen by the French governor to work with the Onondagas because of his previous experience with Native Americans. On August 5, 1654, LeMoyne and his small party reached the main Onondaga village near present day Manlius. LeMoyne spent two weeks preaching peace and religion then returned to Quebec.
The next year the Onondaga chief invited the “Black Robes” to return to build a mission and teach them about the Christian religion. In 1656 about 50 Frenchmen and their Iroquois guides left Quebec with 20 canoes loaded with supplies, tools, baby pigs and chickens along with other items they would need in their mission. They arrived on July 11, 1656 not far from the present location of St. Marie among the Iroquois, the living history museum and village in Liverpool, The mission only lasted twenty months. Troubles developed over trade and religion plus a new French Governor lost interest in the project.
Constructed like the original mission, today’s St. Marie among the Iroquois is surrounded by a stockade with a lookout affording a great view of Onondaga Lake. In the museum life-size figures portray the 1653 peace treaty negotiations presenting varying attitudes to the treaty. The Mission is a living history project with costumed interpreters on weekends during the summer that includes a blacksmith, cooks, woodworkers and other craftspeople.
For more information on St. Marie Among the Iroquois check onondagacountyparks.com/sainte-marie. Flights from Atlanta and other East Coast cities to Central New York on Delta during July start at $150.
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