Houses of Sod

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This is a great site that give pictures of the original Sod houses that were built on the plains.

http://websteader.com/wbstdsd1.htm

Soddys

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebitfarm@itlnet.net), January 18, 2004

Answers

Yes, I also think the Sod house had it's roots in Europe. People built with what they knew. Here is an article from the History channel that speaks a little about that influence.

http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/frontierhomes/sodhome.html

Soddys again

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


Here is another absolutely great article on this. I would imagine that this method of home building, porperly used would crate quite a sturdy structure. Not to mention that the thick walls woould be very insulating.

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/soddies.html

soddies

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


Here is yet another fascinating link that gives more actual building information. I know that I am loading ya'll down with info, but once this is posted here it becomes a resource we can all return to and study later. By bringing these and other links together I am trying to create a resource online like no other. Already this is starting to work, as lately new people have been discovering us in searches on things we specialize in.

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0501_0108.html

Building a soddy

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


Another link on how to build one.

http://members.tripod.com/~LilyK/d_Sod.html

How to build a sod house

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


This a really cool site for kids or great big kids. I played this and got quite a bit wrong too.

http://americanhistory2.si.edu/ourstoryinhistory/tryonline/buildsodhou se.html

Build your own Sod house online

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.



People are still building Sod houses.

http://www.jameslnelson.com/The%20Sod%20House.htm

See a sod house in construction

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


An old Mother earth News article by a guy who built and lived in a sod house for two years.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/menarch/archive/issues/005/005-025- 01.htm

Cool article

-- Little Bit Farm (
littlebit@brightok.net), January 24, 2004.


The sod house demonstrated the creativity of pioneers. Sod houses were inexpensive to build and virtually indestructible. The utilitarian sod house displayed pioneer craftsmanship and the determination of the pioneers to live the American dream.

-- Jay (jay@northwestusa.com), January 24, 2004.

This has been an interesting subject…at least to me. LOL I took the on line quiz for building a sod house. Didn’t do very well. After reading more it’s a little easier to understand how it was done.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/NSHS/EDLFT/edlft03.html THE SOD HOUSE. Can you just imagine being asleep in your bunk and this happening? The dugout blended into its surroundings, and often the only sign of habitation was a stove pipe sticking up over the hill. Occasionally in the darkness, a wagon might rumble over the dugout, knocking dirt into the room below, or even crashing through the ceiling.

Earth Homes have existed for thousands of years. Some simple, others with a high level of complexity. Underground cities, hideaways and shelters from ancient times to the present. Here you can reach below the surface to a world few give heed to. Many earth homes built a 100 or more years ago were warm and comfortable places. Here you will find links to some of those old, even ancient homes. Some would say that people were reverting to the safety of cave dwellings by being surrounded by earth. http://www.earth-house.com/mystery_travel/indigenous/indigenous.html

http://members.tripod.com/~LilyK/d_Sod.html How to Build a Sod House. This is a letter written to his grandson by a grandfather whose parents homesteaded in Perkins County, South Dakota in 1910. [snip] I can’t qualify as an expert at building a sod house, but I can remember some experiences that have to do with building one, for my folks built one in 1910 and I built one in 1933. (Note: as of 1997, the house is still standing.) The average life of a sod house was six or seven years. ...

-- Jay (jay@northwestusa.com), January 24, 2004.


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