Seminole Palmetto Roofs

The same fronds can also be used to thatch chickee roofs.

Seminole palmetto roofs.

Our example was woven by a seminole tribal member. Some people in big cypress still live in family camps with a cooking shed and separate chikkees for sleeping and storage. The florida building code states. The chickee style of architecture palmetto thatch over a cypress log frame was born during the early 1800s when seminole indians pursued by u s.

A chickee was a house built on stilts usually about three or four feet above the ground. As used in this paragraph the term chickee means an open sided wooden hut that has a thatched roof of palm or palmetto or other traditional materials and that does not incorporate any electrical plumbing or other nonwood features. A chickee was usually about nine feet wide and sixteen feet long with a wooden platform which served as the floor and a thatched roof. Nearly everything used to build a chickee came from the palmetto tree which was common in the southeastern united states.

I love the smell of a new chickee. The chickee style of architecture palmetto thatch over a cypress log frame was born during the early 1800s as a quick and disposable dwelling while they were avoiding american troops. According to the seminole tribe of florida s website chickee is the word seminole indians use for house. The traditional seminole house called a chikkee was a simple open shelter of cypress poles with a thatched palmetto roof cool and comfortable in the summer heat.

Troops needed fast disposable shelter while on the run. The chickee style of architecture palmetto thatch over a cypress log frame was born during the early 1800s when seminole indians pursued by u s. The term chickee means an open sided wooden hut that has a thatched roof of palm or palmetto or other traditional materials and that does not incorporate any electrical plumbing.