Excerpt: Warner/Long on Natives

"According to the book The Best Place to Be: The History of Orange Beach, by lifelong resident Margaret Childress Long, published in 2007, the Orange Beach/Perdido Key area now home to the Flora-Bama was once amidst a vast network of primitive indigenous Indian fishing villages, evidenced by discovered remnants of human-built temples and mounds. These early Indian settlements included the handicraft of the Appalachee of Northwest Florida, the Chicksaw, Cherokee, Choctaw and the Creek. These indigenous tribes did not live permanently in the area, but instead--much like their human counterparts--lived there seasonably during the teeming, temperate months, taking advantage of the area's natural abundance of fish, game and wildlife" (Warner, 2012, p. 46).