Accountability

Land Acknowledgement

Craigardan occupies the Indigenous lands and waters of the Kanienʼkehá:ka people, keepers of the Eastern Door of the Six Nations Rotinoshoni. 

We acknowledge that Kanienʼkehá:ka people still safeguard the mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes of Kohserà:ke, as their ancestors had done for millennia. We bring our minds together as one as we give our greetings and our thanks to the Kanienʼkehá:ka people and their relatives among the Six Nations for being on their land today. 

We affirm our obligations to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. We honor the Great Law of Peace and Indigenous treaties that made these lifegiving spaces a shared “dish with one spoon” with Wabanaki and Anishinaabe peoples who have held these lands as sacred since time immemorial. 

We recognize our Indigenous neighbors at Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, Ganienkeh Territory, Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Mohawks of Kanesatake, Oneida Indian Nation, Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, the Koasek Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation, Elnu Abenaki Tribe, the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, and the Abenakis at Odanak as the original stewards of the land and their past, present, and future connections to their sacred spaces within the Adirondack Park. 

We accept responsibility for deceptive land sales and broken treaties that enabled non-Native settlers to establish a farm now called Craigardan on Indigenous land more than two centuries ago.  

We commit ourselves to healing the intergenerational traumas of colonization, racial discrimination, and environmental degredation through mutually beneficial alliances with our Indigenous neighbors to build sustainable systems that integrate the needs of human communities with the integrity of the natural world. 

Activating the Promise

Deceptive land sales and broken treaties enabled non-native settlers to establish homesteads in this region which include Craigardan’s 320 acres. In the early 1800s, Manoah Miller set out to create a 3000+ acre settlement here which included a farm, forge, sawmill, and kiln. In the late 1800s, the Adirondack Park was born, and this homestead and the land was divided and sold off among family or neighbors. It has since remained in private hands, surrounded by state lands.

However, these lands belong to the Kanienʼkehá:ka people. And although not much of the Miller settlement remains, we are reminded of their presence here and are still shaped by that history. As we come to terms with our own presence on Kanienʼkehá:ka land, and as we develop a deepened understanding of place, we allow this understanding to inform our collective work and to guide our path forward. Tending to the land and the water; creating a shared space where all are welcome and supported; opening this land back up to the Kanienʼkehá:ka people; and gathering together each year with our community to eat, give thanks, and tell stories around the fire are a few ways in which we are working towards activating our acknowledgements and honoring the past while being mindful of the future.