This work looks at the question of why a particular landscape moves us, and what attaches us to a particular place - our connections with places, and the loss we feel if there are no such connections. Ths author draws on personal anecdotes, historical sketches, and lyrical meditations. In addition, she interweaves the story of the tragic Seneca nation of the Iroquois, whose mythology still clings to the landscape, and the many utopians who sensed a spiritual resonance here and were inspired - such as Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon sect.