"Having an actual Smithsonian exhibit come to the Encore at the Strand on Main Street in a small town like Atmore, Alabama, is truly a 'big deal,'" Pride of Atmore volunteer Dale Ash said in September, ahead of the opening. She has more reason than most to say so. Ash wrote many of the grant applications and helped secure the historic tax credits that saved the building where the exhibit now hangs.
The exhibit is Americans, and admission is free. It runs at 120 South Main Street through Wednesday, November 4, 2026. As of today, that leaves a little more than four weeks. Atmore is hosting it because of who lives a few miles up the road, and the timing sets up a fall where one Thanksgiving story leaves downtown just before another begins on Jack Springs Road.
Four Stories Everyone Thinks They Already Know
The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian developed Americans. The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and its Museum on Main Street program then adapted it to travel to small towns. The exhibit is built around four familiar stories: Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears, and the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Around those four, it collects the American Indian names and images most people pass every day without noticing. That includes place names, product labels, and sports mascots, shown through photographs, objects, videos, and interactive pieces. The Museum on Main Street page for the exhibit describes the subject as the deep and complicated presence of American Indian imagery in American life.
In most towns on a Smithsonian tour, that's a national story looked at from far away. In Atmore, a local community is part of it.
Atmore Goes First
The Alabama Humanities Alliance brought Americans to the state as part of its America at 250 commemorations. Between September 2026 and June 2027, it travels to five towns that AHA describes as "rich in Native history, culture, and the contemporary presence of local tribes." Atmore opens the tour.
| Host town | Dates on the Alabama tour |
|---|---|
| Atmore | September 16 – November 4, 2026 |
| Wetumpka | November 16 – December 18, 2026 |
| Florence | January 11 – February 22, 2027 |
| Scottsboro | March 4 – April 22, 2027 |
| Foley | April 30 – June 25, 2027 |
AHA's exhibit guide explains Atmore's place on the list in its opening lines. The town "neighbors a sovereign nation," the reservation of the federally recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The Tribe descends from part of the original Creek Nation. Unlike many eastern tribes, it was not removed from its land and has lived in and around Atmore for more than 200 years.
That history changes how the Trail of Tears section reads. The exhibit covers the 1830 Indian Removal Act as national history. The Tribe's own neighbors are the part of that history that stayed. The Poarch Creek Indians are also the presenting sponsor for the whole Alabama tour, not only the Atmore stop.
"As Alabama's only federally recognized tribe, we are proud to partner with Pride of Atmore to bring the Smithsonian's 'Americans' exhibition to our community." Robbie McGhee, Vice Chair and Chief Governmental Affairs Officer, Poarch Creek Indians
The local programs carry that connection through the building. Instructor Sherri Scott teaches historical art lessons that tie Poarch Creek history to the major events in Americans, and local and Indigenous art is on display alongside the Smithsonian panels.
Visitors can also request a screening of The Forgotten Creeks, an Emmy-winning documentary from Jacksonville State University and Alabama Public Television. It follows the Tribe from Spanish contact in the 1500s, through the Removal Act, to its present as a sovereign nation. The film runs about an hour, and screenings require a reservation.
A Building That Was Dark for Ten Years
The venue made this stop possible. Ten years ago it was closed.
The Strand stopped showing movies in November 2013, and the last film on its screen was Free Birds. Rural Development Partners puts the theater's founding at 1921, and when the doors reopened in 2023 the event was billed as a celebration of its 100th birthday. The Atmore Hardware Store building next door is older. It was built in 1898.
The rescue happened in stages:
- 2014. Pride of Atmore, a nonprofit, buys the Strand.
- December 29, 2018. Pride closes on the hardware building, where Atmore Hardware had done business for decades.
- 2021. A $150,000 grant from Rural Development Partners and Coastal Growers LLC provides the last piece of funding needed to start construction. Work is underway by August, after pandemic-era materials costs pushed back the schedule.
- July 7–8, 2023. Ribbon cutting on a Friday, with both buildings open to the public the next day.
When it opened, the project was valued at about $5 million over seven years, including roughly $300,000 in donated work and materials. Bub Gideons was Pride's president during construction and Foster Kizer its executive director. Ash and Cindy Colville led much of the fundraising, and Colville took over the capital campaign in 2018.
Today the former hardware store at 120 South Main is Encore. It's a multipurpose event space with a community computer lab, and it connects to the Strand at 116 South Main. A Smithsonian exhibit needs a secure, staffed space downtown. Atmore has one because a group of volunteers spent seven years building it.
The Hours Are Narrower Than They Look
The posted schedule is easy to misread, and today is a Saturday, so it matters right away.
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday and Thursday: 5 to 7 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday: by appointment only, at 251-237-1112
If you work daytime hours, your best chances are the Tuesday and Thursday evening windows or a weekend appointment. The guide says hours may change and recommends reservations for large groups. You can also reach Encore at [email protected]. The last day, November 4, is a Wednesday, so the final chance to see it is a full 10-to-5 day.
The Encore at the Strand calendar lists several October events you can pair with a visit:
- Thursday, October 8: Bingo at Encore, 6 to 8 p.m., in the same building, on a night when the exhibit's evening hours start at 5. Call ahead to confirm the exhibit is open that evening.
- Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11: Gone With the Wind at 2 p.m. at the Strand.
- October 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31: Wildwood at 7 p.m.
The Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce lists Williams Station Day for Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 501 South Pensacola Avenue, with a car show, an antique tractor display, food, and entertainment. With a weekend appointment, a visit to the exhibit fits into the same Saturday as the festival and a Wildwood showing that night.
Two Thanksgivings, Three Weeks Apart
Thanksgiving is the first of the exhibit's four stories, and it's the one with the most local connection. Americans leaves Atmore on November 4. Twenty-two days later, on Thanksgiving Day, the Poarch Creek Indians open their Annual Thanksgiving Pow Wow. It runs November 26–27 at the Pow Wow Grounds, 6477 Jack Springs Road. General admission is $10 for one day or $15 for both, and children six and under get in free.
The exhibit looks at Thanksgiving as a national story, the version printed on placemats and staged in school plays. The pow wow is the Tribe's own Thanksgiving gathering, held a few miles from Main Street. Only this fall can you see both in the same season, and the order is fixed. The Smithsonian panels pack up for Wetumpka, then Florence and Scottsboro, and the closest stop to South Alabama after Atmore is Foley, which doesn't get the exhibit until April 30, 2027.
If you have family coming in for the holiday, they'll arrive after the exhibit is gone. You can still book The Forgotten Creeks for a group while the exhibit is here, and the pow wow will be there when they arrive. The hour-long film covers some of the same ground as the exhibit and tells the Tribe's story in more depth.
Pride of Atmore and the Tribe have said they want this stop to draw schools, churches, community groups, and visitors from beyond Escambia County. The phone number for booking a group, a weekend visit, or a screening is 251-237-1112.
At PHD Realty, Atmore has been home base since the day we opened, and we're glad to see a Smithsonian exhibit on Main Street in the building our neighbors spent seven years saving. If you'd like help planning a downtown Saturday around a visit, or just want to talk about what's happening around Atmore this fall, give us a call. We'd be happy to hear from you.
