Native American Plank House

Renovation Work on the Plank House!

On September 18, 2021, we were very fortunate to partner with several community organizations as we worked to restore the Native American Plank House on the Eastwood campus.  Volunteers began arriving early, and we officially started at 9am.  Heavy rain had given way to an intermission long enough to get a lot done. Big thank you to local Veterans from One Source and Chadwick house volunteers who made up the majority of the group. The roof and two sides of the building were completed.  All the volunteers agreed to reunite on another Saturday to be announced to complete the job. Special thanks to Keller Lumber, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, Abby’s Pizza, the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub's Jeff Plummer, Roseburg Public School’s American Indian Education’s Juliana Marez, Chadwick House’s Rose Mohslick and One Source Veteran’s Service’s Elena Lininger.  Two Eastwood Indian Ed. students helped serve lunch, Eliana and Dominic Marez.  

On Saturday, October 9th, another work party continued to resurrect the Plank House. All was finished with the exception of one door. Additionally, we straightened the sagging timbers. A huge thanks to all of those who work diligently to get this work completed!! On October 16th, the doors were put on the structure. With a few clean up details remaining, the project is complete!

History: The Eastwood Nature Trail includes two Native American structures:  The Plank House and the Drumming Circle. During the summer of 2003, Ron Breyne from Roseburg Phoenix Charter School and adviser for Oregon Youth Corps met with Principal Jim Knapp to propose a great project.  He later worked with classroom teacher Dan Tilson and with a cultural advisor from the Karuk tribe to design and build the Plank House.  Our Native American Education Program began hosting Native American Sports Games out at this site working with tribal parents and grandparents. The structure will be reconstructed in the Spring and Summer of 2021.