When I first encountered Native American artifacts in Niagara County, I had difficulty fitting them into my understanding of the area’s history. Growing up in Lockport, I unknowingly hiked, camped, hunted and fished on land that had been inhabited long before. Most of our recorded history roughly starts in the 1800s, when settlers arrived. It has been a long time, but only 225 years have passed; that’s short compared to the time of the first Native settlers.
Local history is layered. Recently, through my research, I have come across numerous recognized Native American occupations and collections of arrowheads and tools in the county. As reports of finds came in, from Thrall Road and Forsyth Tavern Farm in Cambria, Arrowhead Spring Vineyards in the town of Lockport, farms along Route 104, and McCollum Orchards in Lockport — I wondered, what does it mean? What does it tell us about Native American occupation in the county? How long ago was it occupied? Were there settlements? Can we imagine Niagara County as it was 500 to 1,500 years ago or longer? and how do I write about the history of the Indigenous people who lived in the area and were later removed through aggression and falsehoods?
I have consulted local historians and experts in Native American history to determine the most effective way to present this important past. I have decided that it is crucial to acknowledge that the region, unfamiliar to settlers in the 1800s, was once the home of many Native Americans, and that this history should be recognized and understood.
To begin, I contacted the Hartland Historical Society and Hartland’s knowledgeable town historian, Norm LaJoie, who is well-informed about several Native American sites in the greater Hartland area. Last month, before snow started falling, LaJoie and I visited the locations and reviewed his detailed records.
The earliest history of Hartland includes both oral and written accounts of an ancient earthwork, as described in the 1878 History of Niagara County, New York. “But on the Castle Farm … arrowheads and some other small relics of ancient warfare were found.” Fort Peace was reported to be a circular fort with walls 2 to 4 feet high and a diameter of roughly 330 feet.
The fort was dismantled in 1828 to make way for land cultivation. Although it has been plowed, a hill remains, and the site remains largely untouched, leaving it open to future investigations. In his 2017 book titled “Town of Hartland, Our Story,” LaJoie wrote, “Excavations by the State University at Buffalo in 1961 found evidence of a late prehistoric occupation dating to approximately 1400 A.D., and farmers and area children have continued to recover many spear points and arrowheads from the nearby fields.”
In a 1979 letter to the owner of the property that contained Fort Peace, John Aiken of Wruck Road, Dr. Bill Engelbrecht of the State University College at Buffalo outlined the site’s records. He stated, “It is my impression that the site reflects a late Prehistoric Iroquoian occupation dating to approximately 1400 A.D”. He further stated that there was evidence of an additional site on the property to the north of Fort Peace.
Engelbrecht and Richard McCarthy of Lockport visited the setting in September 1979. Engelbrecht noted that McCarthy had history with the site and previously recovered material from it. McCarthy was a noted local historian and a member of the board of the Niagara County Historical Society.
Engelbrecht ended his letter to Aiken thus: “Sites such as the one on your property have the potential to provide valuable information relating to the prehistoric occupation of Niagara County.”
Close to Fort Peace, an extensive collection of arrowheads was gathered on a Wheeler Road farm. They were discovered over the years on land that has been farmed since the 1800s.
This small group of sites and relics offer just a glimpse of the rich history of Native American tribes in Niagara County. Still, it can serve as an example and an entry point into a significant and often overlooked part of our past.
If you reside in Niagara County, the land on which you live was likely once used by Native Americans for daily activities including hunting, fishing and farming. If you are near water, such as a river, stream or spring, it could have been a Native settlement. Before Niagara County was established, this area and its abundant resources had supported human life for thousands of years.
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Thanks to Norm LaJoie, Niagara County Historical Society curator Terry Abrams and the Niagara County Historian’s Office for their assistance with this report.
NEXT TIME: Drawing on research and local lore, I will briefly examine the remnants of Native American history still present on the land. Often, only arrowheads and tools remain after thousands of years. What will they tell us? Which Native groups used them? To what year are they dated, what type of stone are they made of, and where did the stone originate? What are the laws regarding collecting Native American artifacts, and what should you do when you find them? Stay tuned.