Canandaigua Lake

Canandaigua Lake is the westernmost of New York’s major Finger Lakes, running about 15.5 miles north to south at the northern edge of Haudenosaunee country. Steep wooded slopes enclose deep, clear water, and streams descend from surrounding hills. The lake provided fish, drinking water and a route into the interior, while fertile slopes supported gardens, orchards and settlements.

The Seneca name, recorded in several forms, is translated as “the chosen spot” or “at the chosen town.” Haudenosaunee villages lay near the northern outlet, and the lake belonged to Seneca territory within the Confederacy. Fish and game supplemented maize, beans and squash, and trails connected the lake to neighboring Finger Lakes and the Genesee country.

A treaty between the United States and the Haudenosaunee was signed north of the lake after the American Revolution. Its surviving parchment bears the names of Seneca leaders including Red Jacket, Cornplanter, Handsome Lake and Farmer’s Brother. Settlers then expanded along the shore, but the lake’s Seneca name and archaeology preserve the earlier indigenous geography. The lake also supported waterfowl and wild plants.