New York › Trail
The Central Trail: Onondaga to Canandaigua
The western half of the Iroquois Trail across the Finger Lakes: Marcellus, Skaneateles, Auburn, the Cayuga crossing, Seneca Falls, Geneva and Canandaigua.
| Endpoints | Onondaga Valley → Marcellus → Skaneateles → Auburn → Cayuga → Seneca Falls → Waterloo → Geneva → Canandaigua |
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| Modern roads along the route | US-20 Marcellus–Skaneateles–Auburn; NY-5/US-20 Auburn–Cayuga–Seneca Falls–Waterloo–Geneva; NY-5/US-20 Geneva–Canandaigua |
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| Drawn on | Iroquois trails and villages, 1851 |
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West of Onondaga the trail climbed to Marcellus and Skaneateles, dropped to Auburn on the Owasco outlet, and crossed the marshy north end of Cayuga Lake at Cayuga, where a bridge more than a mile long was built across the outlet in 1800. It then followed the Seneca River through Seneca Falls and Waterloo (Skoiyase) to Kanadesaga at Geneva, and continued west to Canandaigua and the Genesee.
The Seneca Turnpike of 1800 and the Ontario and Genesee Turnpike were laid on this line, and NY-5/US-20 still is. On the overlay the trail runs between the northern tips of the lakes, which are control points, so this stretch is one of the best-fitted on the sheet.
Sources
Updated 2026-09-17. Where a route crosses private land today, stay on public roads and marked trails.