The reason to come to Okmulgee is the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The Creek Council House on the central square is the single best museum in town, occupying the 1878 sandstone building that served as the Creek national capitol before Oklahoma statehood dissolved tribal governments. The downtown around it preserves a coherent set of early-20th-century commercial buildings — the Severs Block being the most prominent. Outside town, Okmulgee Lake is the standard half-day escape: fishing, picnicking, easy walking.