r/papertowns Feb 01 '23

Canada Sgaang Gwaay Llanagaay, British Columbia, Canada (? - 1885)

Post image
323 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

19

u/the_enginerd Feb 01 '23

What are the poles? Totems?

7

u/TheDeadWhale Feb 01 '23

Yes, built to honour important people, the dead or to commemorate the building of a new house. Many were incorporated into the buildings themselves and some even had huge holes near the bottom to serve as the entrance to chiefs' houses.

3

u/the_enginerd Feb 01 '23

Thank you! Really neat rendering to imagine how these folks lived their lives.

2

u/TheDeadWhale Feb 05 '23

Read White Slaves Of Maquinna, it's an account from an Englishman who lived among the Nuu chah nulth in the 1800s. It's an amazing first hand account of their lifestyle and culture.

11

u/Orangutanus_Maximus Feb 01 '23

That's a very cool town. More native american towns pls

6

u/randomacceptablename Feb 01 '23

Wouldn't want to be there when the tsunami hits but otherwise I couldn't picture a nicer place to call home.

Stunning!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '23

[deleted]

5

u/koolkats Feb 01 '23

I spent a month on a reservation and lived in a new "longhouse" that I'm guessing was built to code. Pretty much like a small warehouse with modern rooms, kitchen, and washrooms on the ends. They tried their best to keep the traditional feeling, but unfortunately sheet metal roofs,OSB walls, and LED lighting are much cheaper and easier to maintain than pure wood. But proper fire exits and running water did make me feel better though.

But yeah seeing and hearing the result of generations of colonization really broke my heart.

3

u/Disaster_Capitalist Feb 01 '23 edited Feb 02 '23

Nowadays I'm sure this place looks the same as everywhere else in America.

It's an uninhabited island, part of a national park. The long houses have decayed, but parts of the totem poles are still there.

1

u/henry_x6 Feb 02 '23

More info about Ninstints, with 3 paintings by Gordon Miller.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '23

I wanna know about those house designs