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Simmons visited the Seminoles over the winter of 1822. Here, he describes his evening as a guest at the black settlement under Cudjoe:

"We, at last, arrived at the settlement; and I was lodged in a new and excellent house, which the Negroes had built to dance in on Christmas. It was constructed in the Indian manner, without nails -- the boards and shingles being lashed to the posts and rafters, by strips of oak, which last a long time. Here, under 'smoky rafters,' lulled by the sleep-compelling sound of an incessant shower, I enjoyed, upon a bed of deer skins, a night of refreshing rest."