Goi-O-Guen

Goi-O-Guen was the capital of the Cayuga tribe and a major village in the Confederacy. Goi-O-Guen was located on the North side of Great Gully brook which is 2 miles South of Union Springs.

Goi-O-Guen or Cayuga Castle, as it is sometimes is called, was established sometime before 1656 when French missionaries built the nearby St. Joseph mission. Several missionaries remarked about the beauty of Goi-O-Guen and the surrounding land such as during their first visits to the area when they noted Goi-O-Guen was:
"a village [of] long houses with ridge-pole roofs covered with elm bark... in the midst of fields of corn which extended to the edge of the forest."

Fifteen years after the establishment of the St. Joseph mission, Pierre Raffeix, a Jesuit missionary who was living at St. Joseph mission, described Goi-O-Guen and the surrounding area:
"Goiogouen is the fairest country I have seen in America. It is a tract between two lakes and not exceeding four leagues in width, consisting of almost uninterrupted plains, the woods bordering it are extremely beautiful. Around Goiogouen there are killed more than a thousand deer annually. Fish, salmon, as well as eels and other fish are plentiful. Four leagues from here I saw by the side of a river (Seneca) ten extremely fine salt springs."

Goi-O-Guen continued to operate until it was abandoned in September of 1779 due to the approach of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. Colonel Butler, who was sent by General Sullivan to destroy villages on the eastern shores of Cayuga Lake with a force of 600 men, reached Goi-O-Guen on September 22nd.

His scouts reported that Goi-O-Guen consisted of 15 very large square log houses that they deemed to be very well built. The village was surrounded by 110 acres of corn; besides apples, peaches, potatoes, turnips, onions, pumpkins, squashes and other vegetables.

Colonel Butler and his men destroyed Goi-O-Guen September 22nd and 23rd before moving further south to destroy additional villages. The Cayuga reoccupied the site and remained there until 1784 when the land was given to the Americans through various treaties.

In 1929 a monument was erected near the site of Goi-O-Guen and to this day Great Gully remains a popular Summer stop for locals.

Today historical markers, shown above, stand as a reminder to the capital which stood in their vicinity. The location of these markers are in a small pull off on Route 90 about 2 and a half miles South of Union Springs. For those of you with a GPS the coordinates to these markers are Latitude 42°48'35.81"N and Longitude 76°42'2.96"W.

The photos below are what the land that Goi-O-Guen looks like today, wide open pastures, a busy country road, a farm and the gully.