“In our language, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki 
means ‘a place to learn.’ We invite you to come to the Big Cypress Reservation and learn about our exciting history and culture. The museum exhibits and rare artifacts show how our Seminole ancestors lived in the Florida swamps and Everglades. The museum film, ‘We Seminoles,’ tells our story in our own words, including our dramatic struggle to remain in Florida. Nature trails will take you throughout the beautiful 60-acre cypress dome to a living village. The museum also has interactive computers, and a Native American gift shop. See you at the museum.”
“Sho-naa-bish!”
Exhibit Gallery
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum is one of the finest American Indian museums in the United States. It features the nation’s largest display of the life and culture of the unconquered Florida Seminoles through exhibits, rare artifacts and cultural displays.
Located on the Seminole Tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation in the Florida Everglades, the 5,000 square foot museum is just three miles from Billie Swamp Safari Eco-Heritage Park.
Gallery exhibits include –
- Transportation: Learn how the Seminoles traveled through the
Everglades in canoes made from cypress trees.- Economy: Understand how the Seminoles survived by hunting, tanning buckskins, gathering food and gardening.
- Exciting Film: View a dramatic five-screen presentation on Seminole history.
- Rare Artifacts: See actual clothing, tools and implements used in times past, some on loan from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
- Living Village: Visit an authentic Native American village with Seminole Tribal members preparing traditional arts and crafts.
- Spiritual Beliefs: Get a unique glimpse into the sacred religious ceremony, the annual Green Corn Dance.
- History and Culture: User-friendly computers allow visitors the opportunity to find further information on the Seminole Tribe’s rich history and culture.
- Gift Shop: Buy Seminole arts and crafts and Native American music, jewelry, books and souvenirs.
- Nature Trail: Walk through the beautiful Big Cypress Swamp on over one mile of boardwalk nature trails through native flora and fauna.
The exhibits depict the lives of the Seminoles in south Florida during the late 1800s. Hunting, cooking, travel, marriage, folklore and spiritual beliefs are portrayed. Rare artifacts include moccasins and leggings, turtle shell rattles, bracelets and beaded sashes, and medicine baskets. The museum also features exhibits of its own holdings, including Seminole war-period swords and firearms, beaded shoulder bags, and Seminole patchwork. The Legends Theater portrays how legends were passed down from generation to generation.
A new Seminole Postcard Exhibition has been unveiled that evokes a time many years ago when life was still a struggle for survival for Seminoles. Ranging from 1898 through 1960, the Seminole men and women pictured on the postcards add a human touch to the museum’s fabulous collection of artifacts.
Educational Tours
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum offers a unique educational experience for everyone. Guided tours enable visitors to learn first hand about the Seminoles’ rich culture and heritage. Teachers are encouraged to take their students on a field trip into the rich swamplands of the Big Cypress Reservation. Scenic roads, lush vegetation, and a thriving community await.
Educational programs begin with Little Seminoles for grades K-2. This includes the orientation film “We Seminoles,” a tour of the exhibits emphasizing food, chores and transportation, and a visit to the Living Village to pound corn.
A Day in the Life of a Seminole is recommended for grades 3-5. Students tour the museum using clipboards to answer questions about Seminole life during the 1800s, and a visit to the Living Village to watch Tribal members make Seminole arts and crafts. Students will also view “We Seminoles.” General tours are recommended for all age groups.
The museum also offers a program for scouts to earn Native American Culture Patches.
Nature Trails
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum is located on a beautiful 60-acre cypress dome in the Big Cypress Swamp. One-and-a-half miles of boardwalk nature trails wind throughout the lush vegetation. Signage on the trails identifies the plant life and describes traditional Seminole uses of the plants.
Trees include:
Bald cypress, Willow, Pond apple, Red maple, Pop ash, Cabbage palm.
Plants include:
Ferns, Orchids, Air plants, Spanish moss, Pickerelweed, Arrowhead, Maidencane, St. John’s-wort.
Along the trail is a re-created Seminole village, where Tribal members work on traditional arts and crafts. Beside the village are re-created ceremonial grounds. The grounds include various chickee dwellings and an area for playing the traditional stick ball game. During special events, storytelling takes place in the amphitheater along the trail. The trails are accessible to the physically challenged, and wheelchairs are provided to those in need.
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum at Okalee Village
And, visit the new Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum at Okalee Village which is located at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood. This new museum features a collection of Seminole cultural and historical artifacts in three distinctive galleries totaling 4,000 square feet. Gallery exhibits include:
- Colorful Seminole patchwork and patchwork clothing in a historic retrospective of this distinctive folk art
- Seminole-genre paintings including works of art about the Seminole Tribe by noted non-Seminole artists as well as by Seminoles themselves
- The largest known work by nationally known Native American mural artist Fred Beaver
- Vintage photos from the early 1900s that depict Seminole lifestyles and pastimes taking you a step back in time