Ganatsekiagon- Seneca ghost town

This was one of the major cities of the Seneca tribe (one of the 5 nations of the Iroquois) that existed from 1650-1700. Missionaries, Fenelon and Trouve, came to this community in 1669, Pickering's earliest recorded history. Here, they built the 1st school in Ontario's history.

Fenelon had 1st come from the east from the Iroquois's 2 other major cities on Lake Ontario: Kente (aka Quinte) and Ganeraske (Port Hope). He was very successful at converting the tribe to Christianity in the severe winter of 1670.

The city was located west of what was named "Frenchman's Bay" in honor of the missionaries. It was near the mouth of the Rouge River. There have been modern archaeological digs in the area.

The Seneca were responsible for the victory over the Huron in the 1650's (check the listings on this site for "Cahiague: Huron City of Torture", "Brule Devoured at Cannibal Feast", "St. Ignace II" and "Ossossane Bonepit" for further info).

The Seneca's town, Ganatsekiagon, has had many different spellings over the centuries, such as: Gandatsetiagon, Ganatsekyagon and Ganachieskiagon. The name means "opening in the sand hills".

• Also of note was that today's Ganatsekiagon Creek was the site of the filming of the old tv show "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans", just north of here. It has a write-up of its own under "Pickering". Ironically, an ancient native burial gound was found just to the west of the filming location for this tv show (at Brock Rd and Concession 3).