What's in our name?
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At least seven centuries ago, the founder of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy walked the woods, streams and lakes of what would later become New York teaching peace to the warring native peoples of the region. The Great Peacemaker, along with his student and fellow teacher Hiawatha, used persuasion and great deeds to bring five powerful nations - the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca - together into one democratic union. Cooperation, communication, patience and mutual protection were part of his message, and he left these nations with The Great Law of Peace, a constitution that is still alive today among the descendants of those ancient founders.
When this great confederacy had formed and it was time for the warriors to put away their weapons, The Great Peacemaker turned to the region's majestic white pine as a symbol. Instruments of war were cast into a pit beneath a sacred white pine, and its roots were sent out to the four corners of the earth to welcome all who might come to find peace. The Hiawatha Wampum belt (shown below right), a visual symbol of this ancient peaceful union's origin, places this white pine at the center the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
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It is to honor and remember this great leader that Peacemaker Treehouses took its name.
To learn more about The Great Peacemaker, go to:
One of the best and most complete sources for information in The Great Peacemaker and the Great Law of Peace is "The White Roots of Peace," by Paul W. Wallace. Copies can be found online through Amazon.