Commemorating the Erie Canal: Planting a tree of peace in Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A tree is planted in Buffalo. It is planted in the brush along the Buffalo River on what used to be Seneca land.

The tree is an Eastern White Pine, known to the Haudenosaunee as the Great Tree of Peace. The planting is a symbolic and hopeful gesture in advance of the historic voyage of the replica canal boat Seneca Chief.

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal, the boat leaves Canalside Wednesday morning on its voyage to New York harbor with stops at 28 ports along the way. At each port, an Eastern White Pine will be planted, just as the first one was planted in Buffalo Sunday evening.

Dozens of people gathered in Seneca Bluffs Park off Seneca Street in Buffalo in a small ceremony before the tree planting. Seneca Bluffs was once part of the Buffalo Creek Reservation.

Indigenous speakers and dancers took leading roles in the event entitled “Restoring Roots” which emphasized that the Haudenosaunee were the original stewards of the land on which the Erie Canal was built, and they were pushed out.

Paul Winnie, a Tonawanda Seneca, has worked closely with the Buffalo Maritime Center as hundreds of volunteers worked for years to build the Seneca Chief, a replica of the first boat to travel the length of the just-completed Erie Canal 200 years ago. He said he seized this opportunity to tell a more real and holistic version of the Erie Canal story.

He spoke of the “generational trauma of [his] ancestors,” and said “we still deal with the land loss.” As for the white pine planted in Buffalo, Winnie said, “this tree is a symbol we want to leave behind so that the next generations will have memories of this.”

He went on, “the power is with the people and what you can do on your own level to make it a peaceful world.”

Brian Trzeciak, Executive Director of the Buffalo Maritime Center, spearheaded the ceremony and will travel aboard the Seneca Chief on its full journey to New York Harbor planting trees as it goes. He became emotional when he talked about the friendships he has forged during the years-long effort to build the Seneca Chief and prepare for the Bicentennial Canal Voyage.

He said he hopes the experience will teach future generations not to make the same mistakes and called the ceremony “a hopeful act in this sometimes challenging world.”

With an eye toward ‘living descendants of those who were told they were no longer welcome here,’ the ceremony included Haudenosaunee dancers and singers and later, children, who took the lead in planting the tree.

The children of Melissa Parker Leonard had come earlier to prepare the spot where the tree would take root. Parker Leonard, is the founder of 7th Gen Cultural Resources, which promotes and preserves Indigenous history. She looked on with pride as her four children were down on their hands and knees adding soil and water that had been brought from Indigenous land sources to the planting site.

Also looking on was John Montague, President Emeritus of the Buffalo Maritime Center. Montague was a leading figure in preparations for the canal’s bicentennial. He called it a commemoration and said, “We can celebrate community.”

During the ceremony, rain was on the horizon, but there was a rainbow close by and that, onlookers said, was good luck. The Seneca Chief embarks on its 33-day voyage from Canalside on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 8:30 A.M.