Sat Oct 2: B’ville to Onondaga Lake Park Marina

In which we make our last exploration stop ….

Our children gave us this handy calendar, so we know what day it is.  Why outhouses?  *shrugs* Possibly something to do with the size of the boat ‘head’??  It’s now October so we have a new picture to view and ponder. 

As you faithful readers know, we are winding down - but are making one last stop at Lake Onondaga, because someone told us it was a sweet little marina. Compared to Lakes Cayuga or Seneca, Lake Onondaga is an itty bitty thing - only about 4 miles long.  It was just a short trip from B’ville so we left about noon after a leisurely morning and arrived at the charming Lake Onondaga Park Marina at about 1:30.  

Thus far all of our learning has been based on the white male colonial perspective, and it was time for  a change.  Fortunately, near the marina we found a wonderful source - The Great Law of Peace Center.

This area was once home to a thriving Native American population made up of the “5 nations”:  the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Cayuga peoples. These tribes formed the the Iroquois (the name the French gave them) or Haudenosaunee Confederation.  They lived in the area peacefully together, starting in the 1400’s.  We are continually amazed by this culture - it is the oldest representative democracy on earth.  The colonists had no frame of reference to create a democracy, having never seen one, so Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay proposing a structure for the future American government based on how the Iroquois lived. The United States even borrowed the Bald Eagle and bundled arrows (take a look at the seal of the USA below) symbols from these Native Americans. Also, as mentioned in an earlier post on the Women’s Rights movement, the matriarchal Iroquois society provided an example of a culture based on equality.   It is hard to truly understand how important these Native American peoples were to us as a young nation and then to learn about how badly we treated them.  Once again, during our travels we have had the privilege to really learn about history where (and how) it happened.  

     

Saturday afternoon was just delightful with a light breeze and temperatures in the low 70’s.   We took a long walk on the walking trail that rings the lake.

Early color

I really need to know what populations are reading this warning sign at the very top and the very bottom... ???

The big park beside the water is starting to set up its drive through Christmas display.  Guess we are going to miss that.  It's fun that it will be seen from boats as well as cars.

 

These last days on the boat we are focused on 'drawing down' our food, and organizing things into what will stay on the boat, and what will go into the car.

And that's the Current Situation (sorry - it's hard to read).