Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center

I had been talking about going to visit the Seneca Iroquois Museum on Seneca territory in Salamanca since before you were born. Mom suggested we load up and go one sunny morning in November, just before Election Day. It was a long drive, but you were good in the car as usual.

There weren’t many people there. Tickets were only $12.50 (free for you). I asked the young man at the counter if the museum tour were self-guided. He said it was. I promptly walked to the end of the gift shop, and started us at what would typically be considered the tour’s end. This would not become apparent for a few minutes.

After realizing the mistake and walking briskly to the “beginning,” we found the expected panels on Iroquois creation beliefs: The Sky Woman / Grandmother, the Turtle, the Young Woman, the Twin Brothers Sky Holder and Flint, and so forth. You learned about the tribes, and saw some of the white tourist-aimed beadwork some natives sold to remain self-sufficient when access to their ancestral lands had been limited.

Ellicotville Emilies

After we had absorbed enough ancient wisdom, we decided to stop into the Ellicottville Brewing Company for lunch. It was packed, as the downtown area was teeming with tourists, even weeks past peak autumn colors in the trees of the Southern Tier. We decided to be placed on the waiting list, and I was notified by text of a ready table just a very short time after that. My “blackened fish” taco was barely seasoned, and my New England style IPA was surely a lager, but somehow I did not sink into a blood rage, and we paid the bill and left in peace, back up the 219 and out of the Appalachian foothills.