1931 Grand Central Ave

Historic Hanover Square, with its stunning architecture, brick-paved sidewalks, period lighting, and wide variety of locally-owned shops and restaurants, is the picture-perfect heart of the Village of Horseheads. But there's more to this village -- and the town that surrounds it -- than its quaint downtown shopping district -- Horseheads has a long history, dating back to an event that took place during the American Revolution.

In 1779, Major-General John Sullivan marched through the area on a 450-mile journey known as the Sullivan Expedition -- a Revolutionary War campaign against the Tories and the Iroquois Confederacy who supported them. Unfortunately, the long journey took a heavy toll on the horses, and many were put down. So many, in fact, that the Iroquois later collected the skulls and lined them up along the trail as a defiant warning. That stretch became known as the "Valley of Horses Heads," later shortened to Horseheads.