Gardeau Overlook

Gardeau Overlook. . The name of this overlook comes from the Seneca word Gah-Da-Hoh, or "bank in front." During a warming period between glaciers more than 100,000 years ago, the Genesee River created a new course by eroding this valley. The repassage of the great ice sheets then created gentler slopes and desirable farmland. Subsequent wanderings of the river in this valley cut a cliff face into the gentler slope and thus formed the "bank in front." (This cliff face is located upriver and to the right of this view.) , ,br> The flat bottomland you see below was used by Native Americans thousands of year before the Seneca. Here, Mary Jemison, White Woman of the Genesee, lived for more than 50 years. Mary, a teenager when captured during the French and Indian War, was adopted by a Seneca family. During the Revolutionary War, she brought her family to this valley to escape the raids carried out during the Sullivan Campaign. At the Treaty of Big Tree in 1797, Mary was given 17,927 acres known as the Gardeau Reservation. , ,br> (photo caption) More than 20 feet of silt cover the fields along the river today, supporting a thick growth of willows, cottonwoods. and sycamores. , ,br> (photo caption) 1798 map showing the heart of the Gardeau Reservation. , ,br> (photo caption) The cabin of Nancy Jemison, Mary's daughter, was salvaged by Mr. Letchworth and moved to the Council Grounds above the Glen Iris. , ,br> (photo caption) Mary remained at the Gardeau Reservation until 1831. Saddened by the loss of her sons, who were killed in drunken brawls, she moved to the Buffalo Creek Reservation where she remained until her death in 1833. , ,br> (photo caption) The Big Sycamore - In 2002, the park's largest free measured 18 feet 7 inches in circumference, 122 feet in height, and 69 feet in spread. It is likely that this tree never existed in Mary Jemison's time. , ,br> (photo caption) Sycamore , ,br> (photo caption) The Gardeau Valley, once home to many farming families, was acquired as park land where water could be stored behind the future dam at Mount Morris. When the dam is full, the valley fills with water above the treetops. , ,br> (photo caption) Mary Jemison - This image of Mary Jemison by Carlos Stebbins was created after her death and is based on another person's memories. Mr. Stebbins, Wyoming County's pre-eminent portrait artist in the late 1800s, lived in Pike, New York Courtesy of the Wyoming County Pioneer Association. , ,br> (photo caption) The Taking of Mary Jemison, by Robert Griffing.