The Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, NY

While we were in Schoharie County, rambling through the deep, mysterious recesses of the subterranean (Howe Caverns!), I discovered another attraction nearby: Iroquois Indian Museum. I grew up in New York State, ancient land of the Iroquois Nations, so their history has been drilled into my skull endlessly since my school years. As a homeschooling mom (and New York traveler extraordinaire), the Iroquois history has become familiar territory. We’ve been to the Shakowi Cultural Center in Oneida, gone on an extensive search for the Oneida Stone, learned about the history of Hamilton College (originally built to educate local Indians and white settlers for the ministry) and Reverend Samuel Kirkland‘s house, paid our respects at the Oriskany Battlefield monument, and on and on and on!

The Iroquois Indian Museum is unlike any of the other places I visited. The artifacts and art displays mingled Indian culture and it’s development with the history of the Iroquois. In case you have never heard of the Iroquois, allow me to briefly introduce you. The Iroquois Nation consisted of five (then later, six) tribes of the Eastern Woodlands natives of North America: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, and later, the Tuscaroras from Carolina. These tribes make a peace agreement with each other and were allotted tracts of land stretching across the untamed wilderness of what we now know as Upstate New York– the Mohawks were the “keepers of the door” near Albany and the Senecas maintained the other end of the land.

What made the Iroquois so unique was their form of self-government. When other tribes across the land were still hunting and gathering and slaughtering buffalo and each other, the Iroquois made a pact and recorded it with wampum (a belt of beads made from seashells).

The Iroquois Indian Museum is an amalgam of modern Indian art from local artists and artifacts discovered throughout New York State. Oh, how I remember as a little girl, digging in my yard looking for arrowheads!

An old Mohawk pot, reconstructed from shards.

A modern work of art crafted from a deer antler.

This is an amazing sculpture from a moose antler!

Indian beadwork from the late 1800s. The ladies of the Iroquois nations still make such lovely beadwork. I saw many such items for sale at the New York State Fair this year.

Wampum beads. It was difficult to tell what articles were new and what were historic.

Iroquois women used to decorate their pottery just like ladies still love to do, today. The placard said that you could always tell what tribe pottery came from because the designs were unique to the groups.

The Iroquois Indian Museum has two levels. One is filled with such amazing artifacts and art work. The lower level is for kids. There’s a big turtle pond that my son loved– the turtles were rather friendly and swam up to him. Or maybe my son just has this *knack* with turtles, I don’t know. There are “hands on” activities, tables with coloring sheets, a few televisions playing Iroquois-related documentaries, and a booth for dressing up.

We did not take advantage of it due to the cold, rainy weather, but the Iroquois Indian Museum has 45 acres of wilderness trails in the back. The area is a real wilderness, with a stream, lush forests and wildlife. It’s a popular place for birdwatching, beaver watching and searching for Natty Bumpo and Uncas. Haha, kidding about that last part, although my kids are CONVINCED we’ll find them someday.

There is an admission fee to the museum, and the museum closes January 1st. It reopens in May and is open every day except Monday until November.

Fort Stanwix, Rome, NY: Summer 2007

Have I ever mentioned that we absolutely adore Fort Stanwix? We’ve been there many times over the years. This is one of the greatest parks and historic sites I have ever visited, and everyone who works there is so friendly and knowledgeable. Plus, they keep updating and adding new things.

For a more detailed history of the fort, see this earlier post I’d written about the fort and the Visitors Center.

We visited in summer 2007 (we visit almost every year). This visit was relaxing and exploratory. It began with a lovely walk around the park, from the Marinus Willet Visitor Center and all around to the entrance of the fort.

On the walkways, there are large, informative plaques.

I let the kids wander wherever they desired. We are quite familiar with the grounds. Here’s an aerial view of the fort. Forts were built this way in New York State. Some forts date back to the French and Indian War, before 1754!

I love the skyline from the top of the fort’s embankments.

The boys like the bombproof– a place under the berms where stores and ammunitions are kept. It also served as a hospital during times of siege.

The girls and I like learning about life back then. Therefore, the quarters and bunk rooms interested us.

All around the fort, the rooms in the long wooden dwellings are open for exploration. They are filled with genuine and replica articles that were common for this time period and for military barracks during the Revolutionary War.

There is always something neat to play with at the fort.

At the fort, we got to sit in the theatre this time, to watch a movie. The park service has, in the past several years, produced some excellent films about the fort. We’ve seen ones on the Battle of Oriskany and another about the Oneidas’ contribution to the war. Today was another great film about life at the fort during times when fighting ceased. It portrayed a soldiers’ experiences at the fort during times of monotony between battles. We recognized many of the actors in the movie– employees of the fort who have been so informative and friendly during our visits.

We also enjoyed a instructive presentation about popular music during the fort’s heyday. The instructor was a very talented fife player and made the presentation fun!

Although our visit was briefer than other visits, we still loved seeing Fort Stanwix again! And no doubt, we will see it again this summer! Since they keep adding new things, I’m sure it will not fail to interest us. Hopefully, we can make it to a re-enactment this year!

Marinus Willett Visitor Center, Rome, NY

On our way from Oneida, I was passing through the city of Rome to get home to Utica, and we drove by Fort Stanwix. Oh, the temptation! I was in a hurry to get home (it was getting late) but we couldn’t resist stopping. We have been to Fort Stanwix in Rome so many times. We absolutely love it. Although we had no time to see the Fort again, we did make a speedy run through the Marinus Willett Visitor Center.

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