"Once a Home, Now a Memory": Dispossession, Possession and Remembrance of the Landscape of the Former Seneca Army Depot

Abstract

Utilizing aspects of social, cultural, political, military and environmental history, this thesis details the cycles of possession and dispossession of the lands of Seneca County, New York. It explores both the changes in the people who claimed the land, and the changes in the natural landscape. Seneca County, a region forged in the fires of war, continues to be a region influenced by the relics and echoes of military and political conflict. Since the closing of the Seneca Army Depot at the end of the Cold War, the current residents of Seneca County have engaged in a fierce debate over the future of the former Depot lands. Whoever wrests ownership of this landscape will determine its future use and influence how its past will be celebrated and remembered.