Cathlapotle Plankhouse Project

As you begin your hike on the Oaks to Wetland trail you come to a Plankhouse. It is a replica of a plankhouse that was found about 1.5 miles from this sight. They built it to resemble the houses described by Lewis and Clark when they visited the Cathlapotle village over 200 years ago. This one is about 45 feet long, the original was about 90 feet long. The original housed upwards of 70 families, makes me think I should stop complaining about my small house.

Entrance to the plankhouse, the volunteer/ranger stopped us before entering and told us how to properly enter the house. You enter backwards, to show respect to the members of the house and to indicate that you do not have any hostility (weapons) towards them.

Drying grass reeds and carving at the far end of the house.
These particular reeds were mainly used to make sleeping mats.

The house is made from cedar, a very rot resistant wood. The sun was sneaking in through the vents in the roof, the smoke from the fire pits naturally drafted up and out b/c of the cracks in the house. They purposely did not seal up the houses for this reason.

Trying to get some perspective on the inside, Oliver can't stand still.

Just playing with angles.

The boys spent a lot of time at this bench talking to the volunteers. They learned a lot about what everything was used for. We spent a lot of time in the Plankhouse letting them ask questions.