Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum gives amazing insight into Seminole history and culture

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Realistic Seminole figures perform the "Corn and Fish Dance" in one of the displays in the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation.

The place is the small community of Big Cypress on the Seminole Indian Reservation in the Florida Everglades. The time is February, during the height of the tourist season in this warm, sub-tropical state. Big Cypress appears practically deserted, though a brand new highway passes by an enormous new senior center and two small Baptist churches. The tourist must search hard for a place to eat in this isolated area.

Suddenly, there it is, sitting in a landscaped area just off the main highway--a beautiful glass-front museum with the difficult name of "Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki," which means "a place to learn" in one of the Seminole languages.

A trip through this breath-taking museum is an emotional, moving experience. This reporter held her breath, as she passed within arm's reach of realistic displays so human and life-like that it felt as if one of them would reach out at any minute and touch her arm. Visitors move reverently through the displays, from one level to the other, pausing occasionally to listen to recorded voices of living Seminole clansmen and women, telling stories from the past.

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net A family eats their meal in a chickee (house with a thatched roof).

"Do you ever have to spend the night in this museum by yourself?" the reporter asked the curator.

"No," she said. "But we once had to hire a security guard for a valuable traveling exhibit, and he said he heard 'sounds' during the night."

"He refused to come back!" said the lady in the gift shop.

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Seminole families traveled through the swamps in long dugout canoes like this one.

Another tribal employee said that some guests insisted that they had seen the figures change positions from one visit to the next.

There is definitely a "Night in the Museum" quality about the figures, which were modeled after actual living tribal members. The figures' bare feet even have the appearance of veins.

Outside the museum, visitors can explore the Everglades on a mile-long raised boardwalk, leading to a living Seminole village, where they can watch the process involved in carving the long canoes and purchase beadwork. Examples of the thatched-roof chickee huts are everywhere, both along the boardwalk and in the town.

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Two Seminole women use an ancient process to grind the flour for fry bread, a staple which is still popular throughout southern Florida.

Visitors learn that there are eight Seminole clans--Panther (the largest), Bear, Wind, Snake, Bird, Otter, Bigtown, and Deer. They can see displays of patchwork clothing made by the Seminole women.

Though the state of Florida has many museums, none could possibly have the spirit of the Seminole that this one has.