The Seneca community of Allegany is located in western New York near Allegany State Park and the Pennsylvania border.  Following the American Revolution, the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794 recognized that much of the land in western New York belonged to the Seneca.  Three years later, the Treaty of Big Tree was signed and all but a small portion of the property was sold to the Holland Land Company.  One of the four largest pieces of unsold land became Allegany reservation.   

Allegany Reservation is 30,469 acres in size but much of it is under water!   In the 1960’s 1/3 of the Reservation lands were taken by the U.S. government to build the Kinzua Dam.  Despite opposition to the dam project, 9000 acres of Seneca land along the Allegany River were flooded, leaving only 2300 acres above the water line that were flat enough to be farmed or built on. An extremely important sacred site, burial grounds, medicine plants, and the homes of 130 families were lost by the time the dam was completed.  The people of Allegany still remember the things that those lands provided for them.  

The Seneca have their own museum at Allegany.  It displays ancient stone tools, baskets, beadwork, sculptures, clothing, and photographs that tell the story of the dam and the history of their people.  Young Seneca’s often serve as tour guides for visitors who come to the museum from all over the world to learn about Seneca culture.

About 2000 individuals live on the reservation.  They have a casino, bingo hall, library, campground, health center, craft shops, a car wash, video stores, and a Chinese restaurant.  There is also a McDonalds and a Burger King!  In some ways Allegany looks like any other community in the United States, but here you can see large murals by Seneca artist Carson Waterman and road signs written in the Seneca language.