The purpose of this self-guided tour is to discover historical places and sites across Seminole County, covering the cities and towns of Seminole, New Lime, Wewoka, Konawa, and Sacred Heart.Seminole County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,482.  Its county seat is Wewoka.  Before Oklahoma's admission as a state, the county was the entire small portion of Indian Territory allocated to the Seminole people, who were removed from Florida in the 1820s.Seminole County is notable for the Greater Seminole Field, one of the most important oil fields ever found, which is still producing. It extends into nearby counties. In the early years of the oil boom, workers and adventurers flooded into the county, rapidly tripling the population. As oil production later declined, jobs and residents left.Cities and towns with sites in Seminole County covered in this visit include Seminole, Lima, and Wewoka, and Konawa."In the valley midway between the North and South Canadian rivers in Seminole, 72,4 m. (863 alt., 11,547 pop.), named for the Seminole Indians, who originally were a branch of the Creek confederation. Their habit of living apart gave them the name Seminole, which means 'wild' or, literally, 'those who camp at a distance.'" - Oklahoma: Guide to the Sooner State, 1941The county and city of Seminole, named for the Seminole Indians who were originally a branch of the Creek confederation, is located in the valley midway between the North and South Canadian rivers. Interestingly enough, the term Seminole comes from a European misnomer. The Spanish term “cimarrones” was initially transliterated by the Creek as “semvlonÄ“.” “ SemvlonÄ“” and it eventually morphed into “Semvnole” (pronounced sem-uh-no-lee by native speakers even today). This term was used to describe the various Indian tribes in the State of Florida, before they were removed into the Indian Territory.SeminoleThe population was 6,899 at the 2000 census. Seminole experienced a large population growth in the 1920s due to an oil boom.The city was platted in 1906 as a relocation setting for the residents of Tidmore, when the railroad line was placed north of the town.  When Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory merged to become the U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1907, there were 206 residents.Seminole competed to be the county seat of Seminole County, but lost out to Wewoka.Upon the discovery of a high-producing oil well in the city in 1926, Seminole transformed from a town of 854 to a boom town of 25,000 to 30,000 residents. In August 1970 Seminole hosted its first All-Night Gospel Singing. During its heyday an estimated twenty-five thousand people attended the annual event. After the boom, the population declined to about 11,000 and remained that way until 1970.https://web.archive.org/web/20160304142438/http://newdeal.oucreate.com/exhibits/show/tour-5/seminoleWewoka was originally located in the Seminole Nation, Indian Territory (I.T.). In 1849 Gopher John (a.k.a. John Horse) and other Seminole slaves located near present Wewoka. They continued to live independently of their Seminole owners, as they had before their removal from Florida. In 1866 after the Civil War Elijah J. Brown, a white trader, was selected by the government to lead Seminole refugees from Kansas to I.T. They settled near the site of Wewoka, and Brown established a trading post.Wewoka, a Seminole word meaning "barking water," was the location of the Seminole national capital. In 1877 Seminole Gov. John F. Brown unified tribal factions and had a log house erected at Wewoka as the Seminole capitol. A pecan tree near the council house served as the Seminole "whipping tree". Seminole and African Americans who broke the law were suspended from the tree while being whipped.Lima is a town in Seminole County. The population was 53 at the 2010 census, a 28.4 percent decline from 74 at the 2000 census.  Lima is known as one of Oklahoma's thirteen remaining historically All-Black towns. At the turn of the twentieth century Seminoles and Seminole freedmen occupied the area. The community known as Lima, named for the local limestone quarries, existed at least by 1904 and probably earlier.* https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=LI003Konawa is a Seminole word meaning "string of beads."    On January 7, 1904, Tom West, a mixed-blood Seminole, sold George Northrup a plot of land that became the Konawa townsite.  Konawa served as a trade center for a surrounding agricultural region. At 1907 statehood population stood at 620.* https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WE023