Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park
Jefferson County, FL 03.06.’26
On Friday, March 6th, 2026, the Tallahassee Historical Society (THS) invited members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Miccosukee Embassy in Tallahassee to give an oral history of their tribe at the foot of the Letchworth-Love mound complex in their ancestral lands. Tribal legal representative Edward Ornstein, Secretary William “Popeye” Osceola, and tribal historian and tour guide Troy each gave an in-depth history of the Miccosukee people, as well as the status of the tribe today, and their vision forward.
A heartfelt thank you to THS and the Miccosukee for allowing me to document this special occasion.
Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park & Lake Miccosukee
Jefferson County, FL 11.12.’22
Letchworth-Love, south of Lake Miccosukee, is an archaeological site featuring the tallest prehistoric American Indian ceremonial earthwork in the state of Florida. It is thought to be a religious ceremonial site of the pre-Columbian Swift Creek culture.
The banks of Lake Miccosukee and the surrounding area were home to the Swift Creek Culture, with archaeological evidence offering human habitation back 12-13,000+ years. These were the ancestors of the Miccosukee people, for whom the lake and modern town are named.
Following the Creek War (1813-1814), and most notably the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (03.27.1814), Red Sticks or Upper Creeks sought refuge in the Florida territory, often on the edges of existing communities. This amalgamation of preexisting and new would form the basis of the Seminole Confederation. This drew the attention of the U.S. government towards the officially Spanish territory. Outright conflict would begin with the Battle of Fowltown (near modern Bainbridge, GA) and the Scott Massacre. Further aggression with the oncoming of the First Seminole War pressed the Miccosukee (Mikasuki) out of their homeland and further into the peninsula, along with neighboring Muscogee-speaking tribes of the panhandle. Together, they formed the Seminole confederation that defied further U.S. Federal encroachment into central and southern Florida. After a series of deportations of Indians to reservation in the Oklahoma Territory, an eventual deal would be struck between the belligerents, allowing Indian existence to remain in southern Florida. For this reason, the Seminole claim to be ‘unconquered.‘ They received official recognition as a sovereign tribe by the Kennedy administration in 1962, on the heals of recognition by Fidel Castro’s Revolution. The Miccosukee of today, separate from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, reside in the heart of the Big Cypress Swamp in both Broward and Collier Counties.
