Plankhouses were the center of our traditional universe. Made of old growth western red cedar they were the homes, hospitals, universities, place of worship and refuge for our ancestors from the cold dark and wet winters of our Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Wahkiakum, Kathlamet and Willapa territories.
Seen here the Chinookan plankhouse at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and an early image from James Swan of a house in the territory of the Chinook Nation’s Willapa ancestors
