SunWatch Village today is a place of ongoing learning and heritage. Scholars can experiment to find out more about everyday life in ancient Ohio: for example, how did people keep warm here in winter?

We had an experiment where the temperatures outside were hovering in the mid-20s, and we stayed in the house for about a week. We found we could raise the interior temperature of the house about 15 degrees or so, up to about 40 degrees, which isn’t exactly the barefoot comfort we’re used to today, but significantly warmer than it was outside. But in order to do that, we were burning between 150 and 200 pounds of firewood every day.

Many hearths, burning this much wood every winter day, would have depleted nearby woodlands quickly, and would have required long-distance travel to maintain wood supplies, within just a few years.

Today SunWatch affords many chances for first-hand experiences: it’s possible to stay overnight in a village house, to learn eight-hundred-year old American Indian crafts, to attend a powwow with day-long drumming, dance, and food. Tribes and native groups play important roles at SunWatch, as advisors and as participants in celebrations that echo the ones held here by the ancestors, hundreds of years ago.

Dayton Area

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