Tionondoroge
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Erie Canal
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Nine remaining arches of Schoharie Crossing Aqueduct with the footpath on the left and the remains of the canal crossing on the right
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| Nearest city | Fort Hunter, New York |
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| Coordinates | 42°56′22.65″N 74°17′10.62″W / 42.9396250°N 74.2862833°WCoordinates: 42°56′22.65″N 74°17′10.62″W / 42.9396250°N 74.2862833°W |
| Built | 1841–1845 |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000530 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | October 9, 1960 |
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen and Florida within Montgomery County, New York. It was the first part of the old canal to be designated a National Historic Landmark, prior to the designation of the entire New York State Barge Canal as a NHL in 2017.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is the only location where all three phases of New York's Canals can be seen at once. In addition to the Schoharie Aqueduct, the only two remaining locks of the original canal can be found at Schoharie Crossing, as well as three enlarged canal locks and one barge canal lock.
Located at the south east corner of the confluence of the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek was the Native American fortified village of Tiononderoge. The name is Mohawk meaning "the meeting of the waters". The settlement was occupied from around 1710 to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War in 1776. It has been estimated that approximately 360 people lived in the village in 1713, declining to 204 by 1750. Europeans called the village the Lower Castle from its position as the major eastern settlement (furthest downstream) of the Mohawk.
In 1710, Peter Schuyler, mayor of Albany, invited three Mohawk chiefs and one Mahican chief (of the Algonquian-speaking peoples) to travel to England and visit Queen Anne to solidify their trading alliance. The Mohawk chiefs asked for help in defense against the French, including Anglican missionaries to offset French Catholic influence among their people. Numerous Catholic Mohawk had moved up to the St. Lawrence River valley, where they settled south of Montreal at a village they named Kahnawake, after their former Caughnawaga in the Mohawk Valley.
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