The Tompkins County Historical Commission has announced completion of its project to place street signage in the indigenous Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ language and tribal colors along Cayuga Street in the City of Ithaca and Villages of Trumansburg and Groton.
The project was initiated and funded by the Historical Commission as a means to recognize that we exist on the traditional homeland of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land.
The project includes signs placed along the length of Cayuga Street in the City and a single sign on Cayuga Street in the Villages of Groton and Trumansburg.
The signage project follows the Commission’s earlier publication of The Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ People in the Cayuga Lake Region: A Brief History by Kurt Jordan, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Indigenous Studies Program at Cornell University. Tracking a history that extends from over 10,000 years ago through today, Professor Jordan’s work has helped to fill a void in scholarship that has been done on the history and archeology of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ. .
Together, these projects are intended to serve the Commission’s mission of improving the public’s understanding of local history, including chapters and niches that are often overlooked or under-recognized in traditional historic accounts. Since its creation by the County Legislature in 2018, the 15-member Commission has published seven booklets on topics as varied as profiles of the area’s earliest African-Americans to the evolution of County government and its safety net of social programs.
The signage project was carried out by the Historical Commission in collaboration with The History Center, the Villages of Groton and Trumansburg, and the City of Ithaca, whose Department of Public Works installed the signage along the full expanse of Cayuga Street.
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