Longhouses were very important shelters for the Iroquois.  They used many materials to make a longhouse such as elm bark, tree trunks and deer tendons.  First, they made the rectangular frame of the longhouse by bending and fitting the wooden poles into the right places.  Then, the Iroquois covered the whole frame with sections of bark. After the longhouse was finished it was anywhere from typically 30 to 200 feet long, 15 to 25 feet wide and 10 to 20 feet high.  There were smoke holes at the top of each longhouse to allow smoke from the fires to escape from the longhouse.  Whenever there was rain or snow, the Native Americans would pull down a flap to cover the hole.  These flaps were made from animal skins.  Also, there were two doors, one at each end of the longhouse.  These doors were also covered with large animal skins.  Over the front door, the Iroquois placed a clan symbol to show what clan they belonged to.  The longhouse was a unique shelter built by the Iroquois people. 

    The interior of the shelter was very important to the Iroquois people.  There were no windows, which made it very dark inside except for the fires down the center path.  The fires were shared by two families. The fires provided light, warmth and a heat source for cooking food.  Bunk beds were placed along the side walls.  They doubled as benches during the day.  The shelves above the beds held many things like animal skins, clothes, pots, baskets (made of wood splints), food, bowls, corn husks and tools.  Sometimes woven screens were used to divide the longhouse into sections for each family, so they could have their privacy.  Shelter was very important and helped the Iroquois people in many ways.