Going Native American

As a seventh-grader in Altus, Okla., I had to memorize the names of all 77 counties in the state and their seats. I wasn’t expected to learn anything else about most of those places, but I fantasized about them, especially those with Native American names that made my mouth work harder than did Ada, Enid and Altus--names like Tahlequah, Okmulgee, Muskogee.

One day last year, those names leaped out at me from a map I was studying in my New York City apartment. I was planning a drive from the Tulsa airport to the Ozarks, and I noticed that Tahlequah, Okmulgee and Muskogee were all within an hour or so of Tulsa and near each other. Here was a chance to satisfy my curiosity at last, and perhaps even learn a little remedial Oklahoma history.

Tahlequah, I found out, is the capital of the Cherokee Nation, the second-largest American Indian tribe; Okmulgee is the capital of the Creek Nation; Muskogee was the administrative center of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes; and all three towns have significant Native American museums and historical sites. I decided to spend three days exploring them on my way back from the Ozarks. Three days, I thought, should be plenty. (I was wrong.)

So at midafternoon of the first Monday in May, I crossed the Arkansas-Oklahoma border on U.S. Highway 62. The road, which had been full of hairpin turns in the mountains of northern Arkansas, was tamer now, winding through rolling green hills. It follows the end of one branch of the Trail of Tears, over which the Cherokee, Creek and other Indians of the southeastern U.S. were driven out of their homelands in 1838-40 and into Indian Territory.

*

When I pulled into downtown Tahlequah, the sun in the cloudless sky beat down every bit as fiercely as it used to in Altus, in the state’s flat southwestern corner. Taking brochures and a long drink of water from the Visitor Center, I crossed the street for a self-guided tour starting with Cherokee Square.

Under an open shed in the square, a convention met on Sept. 6, 1839, to adopt a new constitution for the Cherokee Nation and make Tahlequah the capital. The quiet, tree-shaded square is dominated by the Capitol Building (1870), which today holds the offices of the tribal court system.

Across from the square, the former Cherokee Supreme Court Building (1845) was in the process of restoration.

After a few more stops--the former Cherokee National Prison (1874) and some historic homes--I headed back to Tahlequah’s main street, Muskogee, to buy film. The old-fashioned department store I tried first didn’t carry film, but the gracious women working there offered recommendations for eating and sleeping places.

I looked in on the Shack Cafe (“serving Tahlequah since 1938”) on the main street, where I’d have thought about having dinner (liver and onions, $3.69) or breakfast (pecan waffles, $2.19), except that it was closed Monday and Tuesday.

Outside town, I found the Oak Park Motel, surrounded by shade trees. My room ($29, including tax) was stark, but the air-conditioning worked.

At the front desk, I picked up a menu for Echota House, one of the restaurants the women at the store recommended. Tantalized by the offerings of two charbroiled quail ($10) or quail and buffalo steak ($16), I failed to notice that it, too, was closed on Monday, until I got there. I ended up with the $6 meatloaf special at Jasper’s, part of an Oklahoma chain.

I compensated the next day with a big, down-home breakfast at Scott’s, a friendly cafe. Then it was off to the Cherokee Heritage Center south of town. Unfortunately, I’d come too early in the season to see the Trail of Tears drama at the outdoor amphitheater, and the Cherokee National Museum was closed to prepare for a new exhibit. But there was a lot to learn at the two re-created settlements: the Adams Corner Rural Village, representing a community in Indian Territory, and, behind a stockade, the Tsa-La-Gi Ancient Village, showing Cherokee life in the Southeast before contact with Europeans.

In the rural village, I joined a group of schoolchildren piling into a small cabin, where a woman in 19th-century costume beamed at us, then quietly began speaking:

“In a house just like this one, my grandmother and grandfather had 14 kids, and they all slept upstairs. Our mattresses were made out of cornhusks. . . .” Spellbound, we hung on to her every word.

In the ancient village, I learned about the Cherokee clan system, politics, architecture and domestic life, and watched the making of kenuchi, a food staple in times of famine made from ground hickory nuts.

*

After lunch, rather than going straight to Muskogee, I decided to take a long, scenic detour to Sallisaw to visit the home site of Sequoyah, the Cherokee scholar and statesman who devised a system for writing the Cherokee language (and after whom the giant California redwoods are named). I’m glad I did; Highway 82, winding through the Cookson Hills that border Lake Tenkiller, was one of the loveliest drives of my trip.

I arrived at Sequoyah’s home 15 minutes before closing, but it was just enough time to walk around the quiet, park-like grounds and see the log cabin that Sequoyah built for his family in 1829.

Though Sequoyah did not speak or read English, he was inspired by its “talking leaves” to try to create a similar system of writing for the Cherokees. It took him 12 years to devise his syllabary--a system of 85 characters representing the sounds of the Cherokee language. By the time he arrived in Oklahoma in 1828, many Cherokees had mastered the system, and the tribe had produced its first newspaper and written constitution.

*

I reached Muskogee at sunset and checked into the Graham-Carroll House, a Victorian Gothic B&B; that a friend had recommended. I couldn’t resist the huge, flamboyant Silk Stocking Room, which had a fireplace, chaise longue and drapery-bedecked bathroom with immense sunken whirlpool tub below stained-glass windows; at the $55 weekday “corporate” rate for a single occupant, it seemed a bargain. I found its culinary equal at dinner at the nearby Little Italy restaurant: rigatoni in a cream sauce with broccoli and mushrooms, loaded with strips of sirloin--a quintessentially Oklahoman touch--all for $16, including salad and a glass of wine.

I’d planned to spend the next night in Okmulgee, but one short night, even with a very long bath, didn’t seem sufficient to fully enjoy the charms of my room at the Graham-Carroll. After a superabundant breakfast, I signed up for another night.

I began my exploration of Muskogee with a walk in Honor Heights Park, renowned for its 625 varieties of azaleas. Inside the park is the Five Civilized Tribes Museum, housed in the graceful red-stone Union Agency Building, built in 1875 as the U.S. government’s administrative center for dealings with the Creeks (or Muscogees), Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles who had been forced to settle in Indian Territory. (They were called “civilized” because of the extent to which many of their members had adopted the customs of white Southerners--including slave ownership; today the term is widely considered pejorative.)

Downstairs were three rooms with modest exhibits dealing with the history and culture of each tribe, the process of removal and life in Indian Territory. Once again, I was reminded of just how much I didn’t learn in my Oklahoma history class: for example, that in 1905 delegates from the Five Tribes (with the exception of the Chickasaws) met in Muskogee to draw up a constitution for the proposed state of Sequoyah--a failed, last-ditch attempt to keep what was left of Indian Territory from being swallowed up by Oklahoma Territory. Instead, the two territories would become one state in 1907, and the Five Tribes would be forced to accept the breaking up of communally held lands.

Across town is Bacone College, built in 1885 under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society on land donated by the Creeks. I was eager to see Ataloa Lodge, built in 1932 to house the college’s art program, which over the years has accumulated what is said to be one of the finest collections of Native American art in private hands. Though a museum, the Ataloa felt very much like a lodge. Stepping into its main room, I wanted to sink onto one of the long, rug-covered couches and daydream awhile.

Besides art, the lodge is home to a dense and eccentric assortment of . . . stuff. Among the exhibits in the back room are an 1887 wedding dress and music box; a centuries-old petrified buffalo skull and the battered walking stick of President Zachary Taylor.

“People walk in off the street with something from Granny’s attic, saying, ‘Do you want this?’ ” a curator explained.

Next, I headed for Okmulgee, skipping lunch in order to have plenty of time at the Creek Council House Museum. The Council House occupies the maple-shaded square that is the heart of Okmulgee’s preserved and restored downtown. Built in 1878 out of native sandstone, it was the center of Creek government until the abolition of tribal sovereignty in 1906. (Only in 1970 did Congress decide to allow the Five Tribes to once again elect principal chiefs.)

Cherokee cowboy-comedian Will Rogers is said to have helped save the Council House from destruction in 1928 by pointing out: “You can go to any town in the country and find a post office and a hotel, but there is only one town in the world where you can find a Creek Council House.”

Inside was one of the most impressive small museums I’ve seen, with thoughtful, well-designed exhibits and aguidebook presenting more history than I could begin to absorb in an hour and a half.

After the museum closed, I stopped at an appealing-looking little place on the square, Kirby’s Cafe. I was the only customer and wrestled with the menu choices: Should I order a sweet or move on to an early supper? “ ‘Mama’s Chicken Salad Sandwich’ is real good,” the teenage waitress said. “It’s our specialty.” I decided to go for it.

After the sandwich arrived and we were past the revelation of the secret ingredient--sweet-pickle juice--and into a discussion of life in New York and Okmulgee, an elderly man came in. He asked for chicken and dumplings, the daily special.

“You had the last bowl at lunch,” the waitress told him.

“It must have been good chicken and dumplings,” I said, wishing I’d arrived in time for lunch.

“Next time you’re in town,” the cook said, “you can call us three days before you’re coming and request it.”

One of these days, I might just do that.

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GUIDEBOOK

Three Towns, Three Nations

Getting there: United has direct service from LAX to Tulsa; connecting flights available from Delta, American, Southwest, Northwest, TWA and Continental. Fares start at $184 round trip.

Muskogee is a 50-mile drive southeast of Tulsa on the Muskogee Turnpike.

Where to stay: Beyond the highway chain hotels, I can recommend Graham-Carroll House B&B;, 501 N. 16th Ave., Muskogee; telephone (800) 878-0167. Doubles are $80 to $110 on weekends; the corporate (single occupancy) rate Sunday through Thursday is $55.

Locals speak well of Miss Addie’s B&B; and Tearoom, in a converted early 1900s drugstore at 821 W. Broadway, Muskogee; tel. (918) 682-1506. Rooms are $65 weekends, $45 weeknights.

Eating out: Many restaurants are closed Sunday and Monday.

Bargain meals can be had at the Shack Cafe and Scott’s Cafe (dinner specials, $4.50), both in Tahlequah, and Kirby’s Cafe on the town square in Okmulgee.

Echota House restaurant, Highway 82 North, Tahlequah, and Little Italy, 2432 N. 32nd St., Muskogee, are pricier, serving robust meals from about $10.

A favorite in Okmulgee is My Place Bar-B-Q West, 4322 W. Okmulgee, which serves all-you-can-eat rib dinners for $8 Friday and Saturday.

What’s doing, Tahlequah: The Cherokee National Holiday, celebrating the signing of the 1839 constitution, takes place every Labor Day weekend in Tahlequah. Accommodations are scarce and should be reserved well in advance. For information about the event, call (800) 850-0348.

The Cherokee Heritage Center’s villages and museum, tel. (918) 456-6007, are open May through August, and the Trail of Tears outdoor drama runs for about six weeks in July and August. A buffet of Cherokee foods precedes the play.

The Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex, tel. (918) 456-0671, is just south of Tahlequah and may be toured on request; The complex’s restaurant is open to the public weekdays.

Muskogee: Next year’s Azalea Festival in Honor Heights Park will be April 3-18.

Five Civilized Tribes Museum is in Honor Heights Park; tel. (918) 683-1701.

Ataloa Lodge museum at Bacone College, tel. (918) 683-4581, is open weekdays only.

Okmulgee: The Creek Council House, tel. (918) 756-2324, is the site of the annual juried Indian Art Market; this year it is Oct. 3.

The Creek Nation Festival, including a rodeo, will be held June 20-22, 1999. That’s also the weekend of the annual Pecan Festival.

The Creek Nation Tribal Complex, tel. (918) 756-8700, can be toured with permission.

Okmulgee claims to have the country’s oldest African American rodeo. It is held the second weekend in August.

For more information: Oklahoma Department of Tourism, P.O. Box 52002, Oklahoma City, OK 73152-2002; tel. (800) 652-6552.