Indian House

Ohio History

House of Grass and Sticks

I guess you could call this house a step up from a wigwam. It is a typical dwelling from the time of the Fort Ancient people. Villages could hold 200-500 people, and were sometimes surrounded by a stockade for protection from hostile tribes near by. There is even evidence that people may have lived inside the walls of Fort Ancient. This house reminded me of the Indian longhouse and may have held just as many family groupings. It was constructed of larger, sturdier sticks than the wigwam, and covered with sheaves of dry grasses. I imagine that the top would also have been covered, perhaps with more grass or bark. We enjoyed walking into the house and imagining what it would have been like to live there so long ago.