The Edges of Wood: Dendrochronological Analysis of Three Seneca Iroquois Log Structures at Letchworth State Park, New York

Abstract

Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York, maintains the Caneadea Council House, the Nancy Jemison Cabin, and Thomas “Buffalo Tom” Jemison Cabin, all built in Seneca communities along the Genesee River valley in the early 19th century. Dendrochronological analysis of samples from these structures has provided a more precise construction date of ca. 1820 for the council house, significantly later than the 1759–1780 range derived from historical documents. However, the results support the historical construction dates of around 1800 for the Nancy Jemison Cabin and ca. 1818 for the Thomas Jemison Cabin. Applying K. Jordan’s (2008) intercultural/creolized type and Brown’s (2000) “Reservation Log House” type along with the lens of hybridity elucidates how the council house and cabins relate to Seneca decisions to incorporate principles of European-style log construction into their longhouse and other building forms in adaptation to their more confined territory and increased European American settlement and infrastructure building at that time.