The surrounding hills of Houghton are rich in Native American and colonial history. On campus, "the Boulder" marks the burial place of Copperhead, last of
the Seneca's in the valley. Across the Genesee River stood tribal council houses now relocated in Letchworth State Part, 15 miles north. During the 1850s the Genesee Valley Canal
carried the commerce of western New York through Houghton, brining with it colorful river boatmen, "Jockey Street" horse fanciers and itinerant gamblers. However, railroad
construction twenty years later made the canal obsolete. (Houghton College Website)
