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Replica of Cherokee summer house

Replica of Cherokee summer house

Cherokee women lived in the same house for their whole life, with their mothers. When they got married, their husband moved into their house with them. When they had children, the children also lived in that house. But when the boys grew up and got married, they moved into their wife’s house.

Cherokee people also had people who were enslaved living in their houses. Often these slaves were prisoners of war from other nearby people like the Iroquois or the Creek people.

Cherokee fishing weir: a sort of stone fish trap in a river

Cherokee fishing weir on the Little Tennessee River in Macon County. (Thanks to Ralph Preston)

Cherokee kids didn’t go to school – there weren’t any schools in Cherokee villages. Kids stayed by the side of their parents all day and worked at whatever their parents were doing, or they went off on their own to have adventures, pick berries, or hunt. Cherokee people encouraged boys and girls to do different work. Girls worked in the fields, planting and hoeing the corn, and then harvesting it. Boys learned how to hunt and fish.

Learn by doing: pick berries to eat
More about the Cherokee

Bibliography and further reading about the Cherokee people:

  

Cherokee History
Native American Daily Life
Native Americans
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