A bitter fight between two tribes over sacred land where one built a casino

The Associated Press Published: 24/09/2024 13:42 WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) — At the height of Muscogee power, thousands of people filled the tribe’s sprawling territory on the lush banks of the Coosa River in present-day Alabama. Oce Vpofv, or Hickory Ground, was a town, a ceremonial site, burial ground, and the last tribal capital before the Muscogee people were forcibly removed from the Southeast to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Today in its place, the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel rises 20 stories above the winding river. The development is at the center of a long-simmering dispute between two tribal nations. The Muscogee Nation are descendants of people who called the land home and Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians is a separate tribal nation that shares ancestry with the…

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