Twelve thousand and five hundred years ago the Niagara River burst over the ridge of the Niagara Escarpment and Niagara Falls was formed, beginning its long journey from Queenston to its present location. Remarkably, Indigenous peoples were there, and have been here in Niagara ever since, harvesting resources, building and inhabiting villages, creating cultural stories, greeting Europeans, establishing relations, participating in treaty making, becoming essential allies in the nation-defining War of 1812, and today, designing inspiring education and reconciliation initiatives.
This long and incredibly dynamic history comes alive in Niagara Park’s Indigenous Niagara Heritage and Legacy Tour. For the first time, the Indigenous history of the Niagara Region forms the basis and foundation for the development of an authentic and fascinating tour of Indigenous destinations, including historic, cultural, artistic, and natural world locations, including Niagara Falls itself. This appealing program will forever elevate and transform the knowledge and perspectives Canadians, and visitors from around the world, have of Indigenous peoples.
In addition to the beautiful vista that is Niagara Falls itself, with its stories of powerful forces and influences upon Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek identity, the Indigenous Niagara Heritage and Legacy Tour will explore Indigenous history locations associated with the War of 1812 and related Indigenous contributions that both defended and helped to shape the development of Canada; the geology and ecosystems of the Niagara Escarpment; Niagara Gorge timeline detailing longstanding Indigenous inhabitation of the region; and spectacular public artworks that memorialise, convey, and commemorate Indigenous culture and history.
For this tour Niagara Parks has assembled a roster of expert tour hosts and guides including Tim Johnson (Mohawk), tour creator and senior advisor to Niagara Parks; Alyssa General (Mohawk), guest host, educator, artist, and language revivalist; Jim Hill, senior historian and heritage manager of Niagara Parks; Ron Dale, distinguished historian and authority on the War of 1812; Travis Hill (Tuscarora) manager of Old Fort Erie; Karl Dockstader (Oneida), executive director of the Niagara Regional Native Centre; Charles Hunter, director of horticulture at Niagara Parks; and Phil Davis (Mohawk), cultural specialist.
Welcome to the Indigenous Niagara Heritage and Legacy Tour, the original and authentic Indigenous Niagara tour created by Tim Johnson!
[Market research: Note that Indigenous tourism has been growing due to significant demand, outpacing general Canadian tourism over the past several years. There exists broadening interest by international visitors who are seeking authentic Indigenous engagement.]
Following our destinations that constitute a full suite of Indigenous sites and destinations along the Niagara River Corridor. It is important to note that the Indigenous Niagara Heritage and Legacy Tour can be customized by selecting and assembling any of these locations.
Start
At Fort George Parking lot, introductions by Tim Johnson and greetings by guest host Alyssa General
Indian Council House
In 1755, at a time when the “French and Indian War” was heating up, the British Indian Department was formed as the sole Crown agent for establishing and maintaining alliances with Indigenous nations. Meetings between the Department and Indigenous leaders from many nations were held at Fort George and followed Indigenous diplomatic protocols. The primary function of the Department was the forging and maintaining of alliances, essential to the successful defense of British North America in the War of 1812.
Fort George
When the American Revolution ended in 1783 by the terms of the Treaty of Paris, Fort Niagara was now in US territory but the British continued to occupy it because the Americans did not fulfill their treaty obligations. By the terms of Jay Treaty the British handed over Fort Niagara to the Americans in 1796. Many of their Indigenous allies expressed concern that the British surrendered it without a fight.
Laura Secord Homestead
The life of Laura Secord, one of Canada’s most famous heroines, contained several intersections with Indigenous peoples and events. Her father, Thomas Ingersoll, once a patriot in the American Revolution, became offended by the persecution of Loyalists in Massachusetts following the war. In 1793 he met Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, who recommended he move his family to Upper Canada, where the Crown was encouraging settlement. Laura married James Secord and they built a house and store in Queenston. During an early engagement in the War of 1812, James was wounded in the Battle of Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812, at which Indigenous allies helped repel the invading Americans and secure victory.
Laura is best known for her perilous 32-kilometre journey to warn the British and their allies of an imminent American attack during the following year of the war. On her journey she encountered a contingent of Mohawk warriors, who then escorted her the rest of the way to provide her information to Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. The attack she warned about happened two days later and is known as the Battle of Beaver Dams. Unknown to most Canadians, however, the battle was fought and won by some 300 Kahnawake Mohawk warriors.
Queenston Heights Park / Landscape of Nations Commemorative Memorial
Powerful experiences are gained from the creation of spaces and forms that foster emotional and intellectual impulses. Landscape of Nations is a place of experience that not only communicates a singular event in the War of 1812, but also anchors that event in the context of history and culture of the Six Nations and Native allies. The central meandering pathway is a metaphor for the passage of time as well as the values of peace and mutual respect.
Two primary figures of the war, John Norton and John Brant, war captains from the Six Nations, serve as sentries to the entrance of the pathway leading to the longhouse (the traditional architectural structure of the Six Nations people). John Norton was adopted by the Mohawk Nation and was appointed to be a diplomat and war chief for that nation in 1799. John Brant was the son of the famous Mohawk leader Joseph Brant and he became, along with Norton, a leader of Haudenosaunee forces during the War of 1812.
Battle of Queenston Heights, October 13, 1812
Norton’s men, later joined by the Lincoln Militia (including the Coloured Corps), prevented the Americans from organizing on the Heights and kept them pinned down. Additional New York militia refused to cross the river at Lewiston to reinforce their comrades on the Heights. The skirmishing by Norton, Brant, and their men gave the British reinforcements enough time to follow the same path taken earlier by the Haudenosaunee to the top of the Heights where they were joined by the fighters from Chippawa.
Natural Environment of the Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment is the largest contiguous stretch of primarily forested land in south-central Ontario, stretching some 725 kilometres from Niagara in the south to Tobermory on the Saugeen or Bruce Peninsula in the north. It has the greatest topographic variability in southern Ontario, with elevations of up to 510 meters and has unique habitats that include: Great Lakes coastlines, cliff edges, talus slopes, wetlands, woodlands, limestone alvar pavements, oak savannahs, conifer swamps, and others.
Indian Trails of Niagara - Indigenous Byways to Regional Highways
For thousands of years Indigenous people have hunted in the Niagara area and have fished the shores of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, or the Niagara River and their tributaries. Pathways were developed following animal trails in pursuit of game or to link the villages that developed in the Peninsula. Trade was an important aspect of life long before Europeans arrived on the scene with hunters exchanging meat and pelts and farmers exchanging corn, beans, squash, and tobacco, while fishers exchanged their catch with other traders who brought wampum from the East Coast, pipestone from present day Oklahoma, copper from north of Lake Superior, and a variety of goods from all over eastern North America.
Botanical Gardens / Indigenous Medicinal Plants
Revel in nature’s most beautiful creations and discover the art of horticulture at Niagara Parks’ Botanical Gardens. Featuring ninety-nine acres of award-winning landscapes complemented by vibrant seasonal blooms and lush curated and natural gardens, including displays of Indigenous plants from the Niagara area and throughout North America, visitors learn about the Carolinian forests, grasslands, and meadows that shaped Indigenous life in the region.
Subsequent stop at Niagara Glen for view and further explanation of geological and Indigenous history.
En route, story of Devil’s Hole Massacre
The Niagara River corridor had long been under the jurisdiction of the Seneca Nation, “Keepers of the Western Door,” of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. By the mid 1700s however, they became disconcerted seeing their authority usurped along the portage routes that moved trade goods and people from the lower Niagara River to the upper River above Niagara Falls, and vice versa. As many as 300 Seneca men who had worked as porters on the trail had been displaced by Europeans. Discontent rose, and on September 14, 1763, a large force of Seneca warriors ambushed a wagon train and its armed escort as it passed by Devil’s Hole along the Niagara Escarpment. Two companies of the British 80th Regiment heard of the attack and rushed off to rescue the wagon train. Seneca warriors were waiting and attacked the reinforcements, killing more than 80 British soldiers. Seneca warrior Dekanandi told Sir William Johnson, that only one warrior was wounded.
In 1764 the Treaty of Niagara served to re-establish peace between the British and some two dozen Indigenous nations.
Niagara Falls
Indigenous observation and understanding of the power of the Falls extends back 12,500 years. Indigenous peoples witnessed the origins of the Falls near present day Queenston, following its erosion to its current location over the course of some 500 generations.
In the epic migration story of the Anishinaabek people, their second major stopping place was said to be Niagara Falls, which they appropriately named Thundering Waters. In the traditional Seneca story of the Maid of the Mist, Thunder Beings who lived behind the Falls were endowed with great kinetic energy, power that was used to heal a young, distressed woman.
Table Rock Exhibit / Optional Restaurant and Thanksgiving Meal
Maid of the Mist and the Thunder Beings
Throughout the millennia over which Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Niagara region, a number of cultural stories emerged that referenced Niagara Falls, the Niagara River, the Great Lakes, and the protective forces and energies that made human life possible. One such story is that of the Maid of the Mist and the Thunder Beings, which was passed on to a group of Indigenous researchers by Tonawanda Seneca Nation Chief Corbett Sundown in 1981.
The Maid of the Mist and the Thunder Beings is the tale of a young woman who fell into despair after being infected by an evil spirit, leading her to paddle her canoe over Niagara Falls. Instead of crashing over the cataract, she landed safely at the bottom, where the Thunder Beings, a group of spiritual elders whose role was to protect the people, led her behind the Falls.
The Thunder Beings held a healing ceremony, and the young woman became extremely powerful, endowed with kinetic energy. Once she was fully healed, she returned to her village where she raised a beautiful family. The Thunder Beings fulfilled their obligation to protect the people, much as they do today through the kinetic energy of Niagara Falls providing power for families in Canada and the United States.
Artwork
Maid of the Mist and the Thunder Beings, an oil on canvas painting created by Oren Lyons in 1981, was commissioned to hang in the museum of the Native American Center for the Living Arts (Niagara Falls, New York). It was returned to the artist when the Center closed in the 1990s, purchased from the artist by Tom Worrell, founder and owner of Worrell Water Technologies, who then donated it to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in 2011. It has been reproduced for display here with the permission of the artist and the Smithsonian.
Thanksgiving Meal
Guests can also sit down to a stunning view of Niagara Falls at the renowned Table Rock Restaurant for dinner prepared by its world class chef. The traditional Thanksgiving meal that everyone enjoys in North America, is comprised predominantly of Indigenous foods.
• Domestic turkeys come from the wild turkey (meleagris gallopavo), a species that is native only to the Americas.
• The potato is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. It was cultivated in South America by the Inca as early as 1,800 years ago. The Inca were masters of plant propagation and developed thousands of varieties of potatoes.
• Corn, which requires human intervention, is plant that does not exist naturally in the wild. It can only survive if planted and protected by humans. Corn was first domesticated by Indigenous peoples in southern Mexico some 10,000 years ago and is derived from teosinte, a wild grass.
• The cranberry (genus Vaccinium) is native to the swamps and bogs of northeastern North America. It belongs to the Heath, or Heather family (Ericaceae), which is a very widespread family of about 3,500 species.
• Pumpkins, originated in North America some 9,000 years ago. The oldest seeds were found in Mexico and date back to 7,000 to 5,550 B.C. As a squash, it was an important food staple for Indigenous peoples.
For menu sample see:
End
Return to Niagara-on-the-Lake, presentation on Truth and Reconciliation along the way
Credentialing:
Tim Johnson (Mohawk) / tour creator and senior advisor to Niagara Parks
Alyssa General (Mohawk) / guest host, educator, artist, and language revivalist
Jim Hill / senior historian and heritage manager of Niagara Parks
Ron Dale / distinguished historian and authority on the War of 1812
Karl Dockstader (Oneida) / Indigenous Cultural Advisor for Niagara College Canada
Charles Hunter / director of horticulture at Niagara Parks
Phil Davis (Mohawk) / cultural specialist