Before they were forced to move to the Cove, the Seminole were farmers and ranchers who lived in sturdy log homes and based their wealth on large herds of cattle and extensive crops. In the Cove’s swamps, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and longleaf pine forests, they had to begin again, traveling largely by boat in dugout canoes made from carefully selected cypress trees hollowed and shaped with fire and an axe or adze. Once settled there, they lived in log cabins and thatched huts called chickees, survived on wild game, fish, and native fruits and vegetables while clearing land for crops and cattle, and used hunted animals fully for clothing, tools, and ornamentation. In times of war or when drought or freezing temperatures ruined crops, they relied heavily on wild native plants for food, including saw palmetto, prickly pear cactus, and muscadine grape. Hundreds of African Americans lived among the Seminole as farmers, interpreters, hunters, and warriors, and some became prominent leaders as a blended African, Seminole, and American culture developed. The Seminole Nation, made up of various tribes with a common cultural background across Florida, followed traditions including clan descent through the mother, husbands living in the wife’s clan village, and annual shared ceremonies such as the late-summer Green Corn Ceremony for gratitude, purification, and peaceful settlement of disputes. After more than ten years of fragile peace with white neighbors, pressure for Indian removal continued, and in 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act at President Andrew Jackson’s urging, forcing the Seminole and their black allies to choose between removal to land in what is now Oklahoma and fighting to remain in their homes.