The Huron Longhouse

When Huron refugees settled on this site in 1671, they established a village like those they had long built in lower Ontario, their homeland. Its most striking feature was the very tall, very long bark house. Unlike the seasonally migratory Ojibwa, who built smaller, more portable houses, the settled agricultural Huron built huge permanent structures, with as many as ten longhouses in this village. Each stood about 20 feet high and 20 feet wide, and ranged from 40 to 120 feet in length. Saplings were set into the ground on opposite sides, then arched and lashed together at the top to form a rounded roof. Crossbeams braced the frame at regular intervals, bark strips formed the siding, and woven mats or skins served as doors. Each house was inhabited by a grandmother, her husband, her daughters, their husbands, and their children, while a son lived in the house of his wife's mother. Unlike smaller Ojibwa wigwams, which always faced east, these houses were positioned north and south, probably to avoid the stiff east wind that frequently blows off the bay.

St. Ignace, Michigan · United States