Houses and Community Structures

In the traditional Creek village, dating from the Mississippian ancestors of the Creeks, family compounds within a permanent town or village, would be arranged around a central community area. This central area consisted of several structures adjoining a rectangular 'chunky yard' used for games and dances. A smaller square with open shelters called 'beds' on all four sides was used during summer for ceremonies and other important events. Each 'bed' according to its placement was designated for specific individuals.

The most dominant structure was a large, round Council House or 'Chokofa' up to 40' in diameter which served as a multi-purpose winter gathering place. The Chokofa had thick walls of thin poles or bark lashed to a framework of pine logs. The walls were filled inside and out with clay and grass plaster and painted with a whitewash compounded of decayed oyster shell, coarse chalk, or white clay. The cone-shaped roof with an opening at the top was made of thatched materials: dry grasses, bark, or palmetto fronds depending on what was most readily available. The walls & floors were covered with mats woven of cane or flexible twigs. A single fire in the center provided light and ample heat even in the coldest winters. Early English traders who described the interior as 'dark and smoky' referred to the Chokofa as a 'hott house.'

The family complex or hutti with as many as four rectangular buildings was also arranged around a central square. It might include a smaller version of the round community chokofa which would have been used as the family's winter house. The center fire of the winter house was also used for cooking. It provided a very warm winter dwelling.

The winter house might also have been used for summer guest quarters. Summer houses were rectangles approximately 12 x 22 ft. with gabled roofs covered with bark, grasses, or in very southern areas, palmetto fronds. The walls were covered with woven mats which allowed for cross ventilation. Both the winter and summer houses had built in beds supported by the poles of the outside walls.

Other buildings of a family compound consisted of a thatched roof open-air shelter used for cooking and other family activities, and a two-story granary / storage building built with the same construction techniques. The Creeks also built log houses of the 'dog trot' style which were later adopted by the early settlers. *The construction of all buildings within a town was a joint effort and could be accomplished rather quickly.