Sand Springs, Oklahoma: Burial Ground in Strip Mall Parking Lot

19th century Tullahassee Creek Indian Cemetery survives among retail, fenced off from the minivans.

The Tullahassee Creek Indian Cemetery appears to be doing well in its strange location in the Atwoods Plaza in Sand Springs. While a few of the monuments look like they could use some care, the fence is well kept and the grass looked good for an Oklahoma winter. A few pieces of garbage had collected in one corner, but that was probably due to the ridiculous winds that were blowing the day of my visit.

I'm not originally from the area and live an hour away in Stillwater, but I was intrigued by some the names on the headstones, particularly 'Adams' since the closest intersection is that of Adams St and Charles Page Blvd. Someone with a better knowledge of the local history might be able to verify a connection.

These Creek indians were part of the Perryman family who at one time had owned almost all of Tulsa. There is a Perryman family cemetery at 32nd and Utica in Tulsa, but it is residential; supposedly the surrounding neighborhood was built on indian burial grounds as one of the women nursed family members and travelers who became sick and they were buried there.

However, the Indian cemetery in Sand Springs is in the parking lot of the shopping center. It is just on Charles Page Boulevard, to the south of I-244, Hwy 412, Hwy 64 (Keystone Expressway) There used to be a large tree inside the fence around it, but it was cut down. Anyway, there is a fence around it, and it is near the west side of the shopping center. I was told that it had been farmland but the man who owned it specified that the cemetery couldn't be moved, so there it is for the shoppers to do a double take.