Once known as Indian Territory, Oklahoma is home to nearly 40 federally recognized Native American tribes. Today there are numerous museums, cultural sites, and statues paying homage to the tribes and their histories. Below are four sites you can explore in northeast Oklahoma.

Bacone College

Chartered by the Muscogee-Creek Nation in 1881, Bacone College was originally known as Indian University. It was the state’s first college, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. The school was created to provide a Christian education for Native Americans. In 1885, the college moved to its present-day campus in Muskogee. One of the college’s presidents, B.D. Weeks, recruited American Indian faculty and staff who created classes about Native American culture.

The Creek Council Oak Tree

The Creek Council Oak Tree is where the Locapoga clan of the Creek Indian Nation established its home in 1836 after being forcibly removed from its ancestral homelands in the Southeast. The ashes from the last council fire in their homelands were placed under the tree and used to start a new fire. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Across the street from the Creek Council Oak Tree stands a statue of kids playing pokkecetv, a stickball game. Historically men played the game, but a social form of it—known as Single Pole game—involves adults and kids, as portrayed in the statue.

The Cherokee National Female Seminary

Twelve years after the Cherokees were relocated to Indian Territory during the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee Female Seminary opened. It was the first public institution of higher education for women west of the Mississippi River when it opened on May 7, 1851. Unfortunately, on April 10, 1887, a fire destroyed the building. The seminary was rebuilt years later and later became part of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

Today, three columns still stand where they once stood at the front of the seminary. The columns are on the grounds of the Cherokee Heritage Center.