Sackets Harbor battlefield, Hay library hosting story walk on Saturday
Oct. 5—SACKETS HARBOR — A story walk at the Battlefield State Historic Site on Saturday will bring literature, art, nature, history and particularly Seneca Nation traditions together.
The story walk, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. is part of the New York State Path Through History Weekend. The walk begins at the end of West Main Street and participants may receive a "take-and-make" gift, while the supply lasts.
Partnering with Hay Memorial Library, visitors follow a portion of the historic site's History Trail, reading pages from the featured book "Turtle's Race with Beaver: A Traditional Seneca Story."
This charming fable of brains versus brawn, as told by Abenaki father and son team Joseph and James Bruchac, is adapted from Arthur C. Parker's collection of Seneca legends. Mr. Parker, an archaeologist, historian and museologist, was born in 1881 on the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation of New York. He died in 1955. His book "Seneca Myths and Folk Tales" would be a fine follow-up to this immersive experience at the battlefield site.
Adding to this story walk experience are many interpretive panels on the trail that tell the story of the Second Battle of Sackets Harbor (May, 1813), which included U.S. allies from the Oneida Nation, and on the opposing forces side, Mississauga and Mohawk from Canada. The story walk's selected book is a traditional story for learning lessons about humility and sharing.
