SIXTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR IOXX) 21 3 



NUN-DA-WA -O, THE OLDEST SENECA VILLAGE 



BY D. D. LUTHER 



Ge-nun-de-wa, or Bare hill, on the east side of Canandaigua lake 

 5 miles from the head, is the legendary birthplace of the Seneca 

 nation, the place where the Nun-da-wa-o-no or " Great Hill people " 

 of the Iroquois Indians held their first council fire. Its summit is 

 865 feet above the lake. 



At the south is Vine valley, separating it from a larger hill that 

 rises 1200 feet from the lake with a steep acclivity and extends 

 into the swamp half a mile beyond the head. 



This larger hill is 4 miles long and 3 miles broad at the base, the 

 deep valley of West river lying on the east side. 



Though its summit is not the highest in this region, its configura- 

 tion and surroundings make it, perhaps, the most prominent feature 

 in the topography of the Canandaigua lake valley and its name 

 Nun-da-wa'-o (Great Hill) strikingly appropriate. Canandaigua 

 lake extends in a southwesterly direction about 6 miles beyond 

 the present head of the lake. 



For 2 miles from the head the bottom of the valley is a sparsely 

 timbered, flaggy swamp through which flows Naples creek, the 

 principal inlet of the lake, a deep sluggish stream 30 to 50 feet 

 wide, navigable for rowboats for about 2 miles. 



Next south of the swamp lie the " flats," an alluvial plain nearly 

 a mile wide at the north end but coming to a point at the 

 foot of Hatch hill directly opposite the village of Naples. Here 

 the Naples creek leaves the base of the hill and takes its course 

 diagonally across the valley for i}i miles, thence northward along 

 the foot of West hill to the swamp. A smaller stream takes the 

 drainage from Hatch hill and flows along the east side of the valley 

 for i J / 2 miles, then, after joining the Parrish gully stream crosses 

 the flat to the main inlet not far from the south edge of the swamp, 

 the two streams thus nearly inclosing an area of rather more than 

 a square mile of land. 



Indian relics are common on a large part of this area, and in 

 two localities their abundance and character are evidences of long 

 or repeated occupation as the site of a village of considerable size. 



Conditions were exceedingly favorable for the Indians mode 

 of life here. Except the continuation of the valley to the lake at 



