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Visitors
to the John H., Sr. and Ethel C. Bennett History Museum enter
through the Childre Family Grand Lobby, a building 50 feet in length
resembling an Iroquois longhouse. Several Iroquois families
would have lived communally in a structure similar to this one
(there is evidence to suggest that the Iroquois and Cherokee Indians may have been related).
The Longhouse
Before building a Longhouse, men went into the forest to find
young elm, cedar, or birch trees. They peeled the bark from the
trees, dried it, and cut it into large sheets. They made long
wooden poles from the thin tree trunks. On a clear, flat area of
ground, the men traced the shape of the longhouse in the soil
and dug deep holes into which the poles would be placed. To make
the framework, the builders set the poles into the ground about
three feet apart. The tops of the long poles were bent toward
the center and strapped together with bark strips. The roof was
curved or peaked so that snow would slide off and not cause the
building to collapse.
Inside the Long House there was one big room, which was sectioned
off from one end to the other and divided by a central corridor.
Individual families lived in each section and each section had a
fireplace which was shared by families on both sides of the
building. The fireplaces were dug into the floor and there were
holes in the roof to allow smoke to escape. Wide sleeping bunks
were attached to the walls, with storage shelves above them.
The
left and right "wings" of the museum were inspired by the
architecture of the Mississippian era -- the temple mounds and
permanent homes that were built here in the southeast were very
different from the structures of Indians living in other regions
of North America.
The Childre Family Grand Lobby
features items that would have been found in the home of a
Southeastern Indian family and items brought over by the
Europeans.
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