S.H.A.R.E FARM
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In 1779, armies under the direction of George Washington conducted a scorched earth operation across central New York. The soldiers burned all Native villages and crops in their path.  This campaign, led by Major General John Sullivan and Major General James Clinton resulted in the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages. The Cayuga were particularly hard hit and were driven from their ancestral homelands. The Cayuga people fled west, north, and south and continue to live hundreds of miles from their traditional homeland.

 

In 2001 a group was formed to try and help the Cayugas come back to their homelands. This group SHARE (Strengthening Haudenosaunee American Relations through Education) works to educate and promote awareness. When SHARE was formed the Cayugas had no property in their traditional homeland.

 
 

In December 2005, the S.H.A.R.E. (Strengthening Haudenosaunee-American Relations through Education) Farm was signed over to the Cayuga nation by a group who purchased and developed the 70-acre farm in Springport, NY about 30 miles north of Ithaca. This is the first property which the Cayuga Nation has owned. It is the first time they have lived within the borders of their ancestral homeland in more than 200 years. The Cayuga continue to debate the issue of establishing a Land Trust for the property through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

 

The SHARE farm is located at the center of the original Cayuga ancestral land, where once 50 longhouses stood.  The farm currently has a 70-tree apple orchard with different types of apples, a medicinal herb garden, berry patches and a ''big old beautiful farmhouse.''

Members of SHARE and Cayugas from all over visit the farm regularly to help keep it maintained. The farm is also used for many education events and there are plans to construct a longhouse there to begin the process of re-teaching Cayuga culture. The long-term goal is to eventually have several Cayuga families move to the farm and start a community.