What to See in Muskogee - Top Sights and Attractions

Park in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Honor Heights Park is a 132-acre botanical garden and arboretum located at 1400 Honor Heights Drive in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It is a public park operated by the City of Muskogee.

In 1909, the City of Muskogee purchased the original 40 acres (160,000 m2) of Honor Heights Park for $4,500. Agency Hill was officially named Honor Heights Park in 1919 in honor of the soldiers of World War I.

Honor Heights Park is known for its azaleas and hosts the annual Azalea Festival each April. It features Symphony in the Park in June. It also includes the Conard Rose Garden, the C. Clay Harrell Arboretum, Art Johnson Memorial Dogwood Collection, Elbert L. Little, Jr. Native Tree Collection, floral gardens, white garden, and the Rainbow Division Memorial Amphitheater. It also features three trails: the Henry Bresser Nature Trail, the Audubon Trail, and the half-mile Stem Beach Trail, as well as picnic areas, two picnic shelters, a pavilion, a gift shop, gazebos, and public restrooms. The park is home to sports areas such as fishing in 5 lakes and ponds from the shore or fully-accessible fishing docks, a playground and splash pad, open play areas, and three tennis courts. The Papilion Butterfly House is open daily Mother's Day Weekend through the end of September. In November and December, the park becomes the Garden of Lights when the azaleas, with trees and other shrubbery, are covered with over 1.2 million shimmering lights.

In addition to its gardens, the Five Civilized Tribes Museum within the park is dedicated to the art and history of the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Tribes. It is housed in an 1875 Indian Agency building.^[2]

Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Thomas-Foreman Historic Home, also known as the Grant Foreman House, is a house in Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States, built by Judge John R. Thomas on a tract of prairie land. It was later named after Thomas' son-in-law, Grant Foreman, by the Muskogee Historical Society and the National Register of Historic Places.

Grant Foreman and his wife, Carolyn Thomas Foreman, each became notable historians who wrote a number of books and articles about Oklahoma history. On display are many of their possessions, including books and memorabilia, photos, documents and Native American works of art.

When Judge Thomas moved to Muskogee after being appointed to a newly created judgeship in 1897, he had difficulty finding a suitable property for the home he wished to build. He and his daughter, Carolyn, moved into the Adams House hotel until Thomas could get a house ready. He talked to Pleasant Porter, then the Principal Chief of the Creek Nation, who agreed to sell him a 300 foot (91 m) by another large vacant tract 300 foot (91 m) piece of the Porter Pasture, just outside the city. The Thomases moved in during 1898.

Reportedly, there was only one small log cabin in the vicinity and no vegetation except grass. The judge planted 350 trees which provided fruit and shade. A large red oak tree in the northwest corner of the property is the only one of these original trees still standing. Carolyn and Grant collected a number of acorns while honeymooning in California in 1905. These apparently survived until the present.^[6]

Church building in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The First Baptist Church is a historic church building in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The church was built in 1903 and was the first church building for the African-American population of Muskogee County. It was built in a Romanesque Revival style. It features two asymmetrical, crenelated towers and a steeply pitched gabled roof. The build is clad in two types of red brick. The two types of brick are separated by a rusticated limestone belt course. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for architectural significance and for its importance in local African-American history.

First Baptist "evolved from a mission school founded in 1877 for blacks and Indians". It is one of four churches included in the Black Protestant Churches of Muskogee Theme Resource study.

Muskogee had a "thriving" black community with a business district of "several retail stores, physicians and attorneys offices, a black-owned bank, and a black newspaper, the Muskogee Cimeter." The population included 7,831 blacks in 1910 (31% of the total Muskogee population).^[7]