Green Country, Oklahoma

From sprawling cattle ranches to curlicued Art Deco skyscrapers, Osage brush arbors to Route 66 diners, northeastern Oklahoma is where the American Dream met the American West. The area's Native American roots can be traced back to the prehistoric Spiro Mound Builders -- the story of the 12th century empire they built is told at Spiro Mounds Archaeological Park near Poteau. In the 19th Century, the Cherokee tribe built their capitol on the green banks of the Illinois River and Creek Indian councils met under a massive oak in "Tulsey Town." The Osage tribe moved from Kansas to Pawhuska, named for the Osage chief, on the border of the tall grass prairie; the tribe was confident the roots of the rich grass were so thick and deep the land would never be plowed by settlers. The discovery of vast seas of oil beneath the prairies changed the face of northeastern Oklahoma -- Tulsey Town became Tulsa, "Oil Capitol of the World," and nearby Bartlesville grew from a Delaware trading post to a cosmopolitan town boasting a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed skyscraper.