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Legacy: The Wigwam

By Steve Wick | Staff Writer

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The Long Island Indians lived in stick-built wigwams covered with bark and grass. The wigwams were tight and dry and could be erected quickly. ``Their houses are for the most part built after one plan ...'' wrote a Dutchman in a document called ``Description of New Netherland,'' which is in the New York State archives in Albany. ``They set various hickory poles in the ground according to the plan of the size of the building. The tops are bent together above in the form of a gallery, and throughout the length of these bent poles, laths are fastened. The walls and roofs are then covered with the bark of elm, ash, and chestnut trees; the bark is lapped over each other as a protection against a change of weather, and the smooth side is turned inward. The houses lodge fifteen families together, more or less, according to the dimensions.''

One of the best descriptions of a longhouse -- a longer and considerably larger version of a wigwam -- was written by Dutch minister Jasper Danckaerts in the early 1600s. He wrote that 20 people lived in a longhouse that was 60 feet long and 15 feet wide. It was constructed of saplings bent over to form an arch that was covered with grass mats and layers of bark.