During a trip to Nebraska, I stopped at the North Platte Valley Museum, near Scott’s Bluff. The majority of travelers on
the Oregon Trail knew Scotts Bluff well as it was a familiar fortress-like landmark not far beyond Chimney Rock.
Among the museum’s displays was a sod house, or soddie, which had been moved onto the museum’s property from a nearby farm.
I found the soddie fascinating, in part because some of my ancestors probably lived in one. My intention, upon going home, was to learn more about the process of building a dirt house, but I forgot about it until my aunt sent me a newspaper article called “Home, Sweet Sod Home”.
The article detailed how and why pioneer families built these homes. They “why” was easy to understand—there’s not a lot of building materials in the middle of a prairie.
The “how” of building a soddie started with an acre of sod for a one-room house. After mowing the grass, it was cut into pieces of sod or “bricks” with a special horse-drawn plow. Two layers of bricks were laid lengthwise with a third layer crosswise. The crosswise pattern made the house stable. Windows were often covered with paper greased with animal fat, and a blanket was hung in the doorway.
Do you know what kind of home your ancestors lived in, and why? Wouldn’t that be an interesting research project for your family history?
To Learn More About Soddies
Photographs of Sod Buildings, Northern Great Plains
Prairie Homestead
Little Sod House on the Prairie
Do you need help finding those wonderful historical tidbits that bring ancestral worlds to life? Or, help getting started on your family history book? Click the Book Coaching or Historical Research links at the top of the page to learn more. My rates are affordable and no project is too small :)
