Honor Heights Park is a botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 and arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 located at North Honor Heights Drive, Muskogee, Oklahoma

Muskogee, Oklahoma

Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, and home to Bacone College. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma....

. It is a public park operated by the City of Muskogee.

In 1909, the City of Muskogee purchased the original 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) of Honor Heights Park for $4,500. Agency Hill was officially named Honor Heights Park in 1919 in honor of the soldiers of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Honor Heights Park is known for its azalea

Azalea

Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...

s and hosts the annual Azalea Festival each April. It also includes the Conard Rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 Garden, the C. Clay Harrell Arboretum, Art Johnson Memorial Dogwood

Dogwood

The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...

 Collection, Elbert L. Little, Jr. Native Tree Collection, floral gardens, white garden, and the Rainbow Division Memorial Amphitheater. It also features three trails: the Henry Bresser Nature Trail, the Audubon Trail, and the half-mile Stem Beach Trail, as well as picnic areas, a shelter, a pavilion, a gazebo

Gazebo

A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...

, and public restrooms. The park is home to sports areas such as fishing lakes, a playground, open play areas, three tennis courts, and volleyball courts. In the winter, the park becomes the Garden of Lights when the azaleas, with trees and other shrubbery, are covered with over one million lights.

In addition to its gardens, the Five Civilized Tribes Museum within the park preserves the heritage and cultures of the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

, Creek, Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

, Choctaw

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...

, and Seminole Tribes through an art gallery and extensive displays. It is housed in an 1875 Indian Agency building.