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Straw houses were common shelters for poor agricultural
workers in The Netherlands from the 1600's through the early 1900's.
While the straw houses on the American prairie were made of sod, clay
and prairie grass straw, sod house roofs and walls in The Netherlands
were made of cut blocks of peat. Wooden planks protected the outside
walls.
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American Straw House
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The poor Dutch field workers could not afford
simple cottages. In the peat-soil provinces of Friesland, Gronigen and
Drenthe farmers hired low-paid peat cutters. The peat-cutters removed
the top layer of peat revealing the rich, fertile soil beneath. Farmers
planted potatoes in the exposed ground. Potato crops were made into
potato flour. While the peat-cutters worked in the fields, they built
dugout cabins in the peat trenches. Their turf houses were little more
than a hole in the ground with a roof over it.
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The peat-cutters built new turf houses as
their work moved from field to field. When there was no peat cutting
work they made brooms or broke stones for the roads. If a peat-cutter
was lucky he could supplement his meager diet with a goat and food from
a small garden.
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In Drenthe the community helped take care of
the poor, so there were fewer turf shacks. Through the centuries the
poverty-stricken peat-cutters have left behind little evidence of their
lifestyle. Written or pictorial records of Dutch turf houses and
peat-cutters are scarce. The turf houses rapidly decay back into the
earth. Even turf house examples in the National Open Air Folk Museum in
Arnhem, The Netherlands must be frequently maintained.
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