What Did Pequot Housing Look Like?

Although most people tend to think of teepees as being the main source of shelter for various tribes of Indians, the Pequot did not live in such structures.

The Pequot Indians were one of the tribes that lived in the Northeastern part of the United States. The Pequot Indians made their homes in structures known as wigwams.

The Pequot were a traveling tribe and living in this type of simply constructed home allowed them to pick up and move quickly when they had to. They did this two times a year. In warmer months they would live along the river. In cooler months they would move their homes inland beneath the shelter of the trees.

Construction of Pequot Housing

Now that you know that wigwams were used by Pequot Indians for housing, you might also want to know how the wigwams were made. The construction material included:

• Saplings: Saplings were used as the main structural support for the home. They were dug into the ground at one end and then bent over to the ground at the other end. This created a rounded structure. Numerous saplings were used to create this structural support.

• Straw Mats: Once the structural support was sound enough, the saplings were covered over by straw mats. These straw mats covered both the inside and the outside of the structure and more appealing mats were used on the inside.

• Chimney: The chimney was simply a hole between mats. This hole could be covered with a straw mat when necessary due to weather conditions and uncovered when necessary to allow smoke to escape from the structure, such as during cooking.

• Door: The entry point of the wigwam was a straw mat that could be lifted to open and also pulled closed. The height of the door was typically high enough so that the family living in the unit could walk in and out of it.

Contents of a Wigwam

Although wigwams were much smaller than the homes we live in today, they contained all the necessities of life for a family. You could find a man living with his family, which was sometimes as many as 25 to 30 individuals.

• Inside the wigwam, you would find pots, pans, bowls, and eating utensils that the Pequot would use for cooking and eating.
• Baskets could be found inside of the home, filled with food that had either been hunted or harvested.
• Often you could see a pit for a fire to keep the family warm as they slept.
• Prizes from animals that had been killed for food were also be found in these wigwams. These prizes included deer heads, eagle claws, and horns or antlers.
• Materials to make more straw mats or baskets could also be found inside of the home.  

So, now you not only know about what Pequot housing looked like, but you also know a little bit more about what their lives were like inside of these homes.