Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth CenturyForman, Henry Chandlee
History
Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century
Forman, Henry Chandlee
Architecture -- Virginia -- History -- 17th century; Architecture, Colonial -- Virginia
As for house entrances, the beehive had one doorway, the arbor abode
usually one at each end. The "doors" were usually mats, which could be
rolled up neatly in hot weather. Often in winter curtains of bear skins
would cover the doorways.
The Indians anticipated the present outdoor-, glass-wall-, and
barbecue-loving age by arranging their wigwams so that in warm weather
the sidewall mats could be rolled up on the sapling framework, much as
the flaps of a circus tent can be raised. Consequently, in the Indian
dwelling one or more whole sides could be opened to balmy breezes,
throwing the whole interior construction open to outside gaze.
The place for the fire was the firebed, and it stood in the ground in
the center of the wigwam. When the lodging was long, there was usually a
fireplace for each compartment. Flues there were none. The smoke from
the fire, winding its way leisurely around the interior, finally found
its way through an outlet or louvre in the roof or through windows at
the eaves level. In wet weather a mat flap or piece of bark would cover
the louvre. On the other hand, in the summer time, the Indian enjoyed
cooking over an outdoor firebed in true barbecue style.
The wigwam windows were merely apertures without glass--true
"wind-holes." They comprised single, double, triple, or quadruple
lights, sometimes arranged in "lunette" fashion, as has been indicated.
To keep out bad weather, these openings had moveable covers, like bark
shutters; but the prevailing method seems to have been to run long mats,
either lengthwise or crosswise, over the arbor roof, so that the ends of
the mats formed covering flaps.
It is interesting to note that the Indian knew that smoky rooms were
undesirable, so that when he could obtain them, logs of pine were
burned, a process which cut down the amount of smoke. On rare occasions
when the fire went out, he lit pine splinter "candles," of which he
generally kept a large stock on hand.
When he went journeying apace, he rolled heavy logs against the doorways
to keep out wild beasts and marauders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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