Poarch Band of Creek Indians

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans with reservation lands in lower Alabama. They are part of the Mvskoke people and speak the Muscogee language. In the past, they were called the Creek Nation East of the Mississippi.

Today, most members of the Poarch Band live in Escambia County and parts of Florida. Since the late 1900s, they have run three gaming casinos and a hotel. This helps them earn money to support their community and families. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is a sovereign nation with strong ties to their ancestral home in the Southeast United States.

History

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians comes from the Muscogee Creek people. Their ancestors mixed with Scottish and Irish traders, which was common in the past. In the early 1800s, some of their ancestors joined a group called the Red Sticks who fought against changes to their way of life. Others fought with the United States.

Many stayed in Alabama even when most of the Creek people were forced to move west. They kept their traditions, such as busk and stompdance, and stayed close as a community.

In the 1930s, they asked for help but didn’t get much. After World War II, leaders like Calvin McGhee worked hard to get their rights recognized. In 1984, they were officially recognized as a tribe by the U.S. government and got their own reservation.

Tribal membership requirements

To join the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a person must come from families listed in special records from the 1870s and 1900s in Escambia County, Alabama and Monroe County, Alabama. They also need to have at least a quarter of their family from the Mvskoke Creek people, which is like having one grandparent who was fully Mvskoke Creek. They should not already belong to another tribe. There are two kinds of membership: one for tribe members and another for their close descendants. Each tribe can decide its own rules for who belongs.

Current status

The Poarch Creek Indian Reservation is in southern Alabama, close to the city of Atmore. The tribal chairwoman is Stephanie Bryan.

Gaming and racing

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians owns several casinos through their company, Wind Creek Hospitality. Three of these casinos are in Alabama: Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Montgomery, and Wind Creek Wetumpka. They also have casinos in other places like Mobile, Pensacola, Gretna, the Caribbean, Gardnerville, Nevada, and D'Iberville, Mississippi. In 2019, they changed the name of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania to Wind Creek Bethlehem.

In 2017, they opened an amusement park called the Park at OWA in Foley, Alabama. This large park includes many fun rides and activities. In 2022, the first part of an indoor water park named Tropic Falls opened there. The park covers 520 acres (2.1 km²).