GANONDAGAN GRANARY TRAIL at FORT HILLSaturday, September 20, 2025 at 10 AM
Charlie Ippolito and Kim Burkard will co-lead us to where the Seneca built a picketed granary
atop Fort Hill to protect the two things they valued most: their lives
and their corn. The location of Gah:ha-da-yan-duk is significant to the
Seneca. From this hill, looking south on a clear day, the observer can
see Bare Hill, the legendary birthplace of the Seneca Nation.
Directions: Travel north on 332. Turn west (left) onto CR 41 and
continue on past the traffic light at Ganondagan. The Granary trail
head parking will be on the right just past where Murray Road meets
Boughton Hill Road from the south.
The Granary Trail at Fort Hill
The Seneca call this site Gah:ha-da-yan-duk, "a fort was there", and early European settlers named it Fort Hill. By any name, the picketed granary which topped this 30-acre mesa has a fascinating history.
The fortifications were made of oak logs, perhaps 13 feet long and sunk 3 feet into the ground. The palisade ran for 800 paces in a rough oval. At the northwest corner of the mesa we find a natural entrance, a gradual slope which connects the crest to the low land. The Seneca could use Gah:ha-da-yan-duk as a refuge in the event of an enemy attack. A spring was located within the reach of the fortifications to provide water during a lengthy siege. No spring is evident near the top today, historians speculate the spring may have migrated down the hill over the centuries.
Gah:ha-da-yan-duk is interesting for a number of reasons. It is the site of a fortification which is not primarily a dwelling place, but a granary. The amount of corn discovered there speaks to the complexity and development of the Seneca economy. It is clear from descriptions of the granary that this was a major depository of corn, and that from here grain was transported to towns within the Iroquois Confederacy and, quite possibly, to those of other Indian nations.
The Seneca built a picketed granary atop Fort Hill to protect the two things they valued most: their lives and their corn. The location of Gah:ha-da-yan-duk is significant to the Seneca. From this hill, looking south on a clear day, the observer can see Bare Hill, the legendary birthplace of the Seneca nation.
It was a beautiful cool morning when ten of us joined Kim for a wander along the Fort Hill Granary Trail at Ganondagan. We took a brief stroll to the right to see the shagbark hickory trees before heading west and then north up the trail to the mesa.
Kim shared this link to iNaturalist with images from a recent visit to the Ganondagan Fort Hill Granary trail.
 |
| lots of invasive mugwort |
 |
| mugwort |
 |
| field horsetail and red Virginia Creeper leaves |
 |
| horsetails |
 |
| solomon seal |
 |
| solomon seal (the pink speckled berries look similar to autumn olive berries) |
 |
| false solomon seal (berries on tip) |
 |
| ceramic parchment |
 |
| ghost pipes |
 |
| American beech |
 |
| witch hazel |
 |
| turtle head to the left of the bridge |
 |
| Sassafras leaves |
 |
| sassafras tree growing over the trail |
 |
| base of sassafras that grows over the trail |
 |
| black cherry |
 |
| white campion |
 |
| knapweed |
 |
| shagbark hickory nut |
 |
| young shagbark hickory |
 |
| asters |
 |
| crown vetch |
 |
| gray dogwood |
 |
| indian grass; bromus |
 |
| common milkweed |
 |
| possibly an asteroid moth caterpillar |
 |
| New England aster |
 |
| colorful sassafras |
 |
| goldenrod |
 |
| wild bergamot |
 |
| pokeweed |
 |
| deptford pink |
 |
| catalpa tree |
 |
| white fir |
 |
| calico aster |
 |
| white pine and birch tree |
 |
| viburnum |
 |
| hog peanut |
 |
| fleabane? |
 |
| box elder |
 |
| goldenrod |
 |
| spleenwort |
 |
| sumac |
 |
| yarrow |
 |
| snakeroot |
 |
| purple lovegrass |
 |
| common milkweed |
 |
| hawkweed |
 |
| hawkweed |
 |
| hawkweed |
 |
| evening primrose |
 |
| saint john's wort |
 |
| horseweed |
 |
| possibly wild oats? |
 |
| determining the type of oak |
 |
| view from top looking south east |
 |
| dogwood |
 |
| red leaves of Virginia Creeper |
 |
| yellow toadflax |
Species noted: agrimonia,
alyssum, Asters: calico, flat top, New England; Autumn Olive, Beech, Birch, Black cherry,
Black oak, Blackcap berry bushes, Boxelder, Catalpa, Caterpillar – possible
asteroid moth, Chicory, Crown vetch, Daisy fleabane, Deptford pink, Ebony
spleenwort, Evening primrose, false Solomon seal, field horsetail, fungi: old
and dry, ceramic parchment, ghost pipes, Goldenrods, Grasses: bromus, Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), bromus;
Grey dogwood, Hawkweed, Heals all, Hog peanut, horsetail/equestrian,
horseweed, Jewelweed, jumpseed, Knapweed, Maples, May apple leaves, Milkweed,
Oriental bittersweet, Pearl crescent, Pokeweed, Purple lovegrass, queen Ann’s
lace/wild carrot, Ragweed, Saint John’s wort, Sassafras, Shagbark Hickory,
Snakeroot, Sumac, Turtlehead, Tussock moth caterpillar, viburnum, Virginia
creeper, White campion, White oak, White pine, wild (summer) grape, Wild
bergamot, Witch hazel, X Buckthorn, X
Mugwort, yarrow, Yellow toadflax, Young
ash,
