[traditional Caddo song] [Narrator] Over a thousand years ago, the Caddo Indians lived in the forests of East Texas.

- Right there, that one.

[Narrator] Today, Phil Cross is the last known Caddo elder who can build the traditional grass house of his ancestors.

- This one here has a severe bend right up there I don't like.

[Narrator] In the next half hour, he and his Caddo apprentice will oversee the construction of one of these homes, passing this ancient knowledge on for at least one more generation.

Koo-Hoot Kiwat, The Caddo Grass House, is funded in part by a grant from the Texas Historical Commission.

[serene music] More than a thousand years ago, a group of Caddo Indians known as the Hasinai, had settled 30 miles southwest of present-day Nacogdoches, Texas.

They formed a thriving village, built ceremonial and burial mounds, produced pottery, planted crops and constructed houses.

Koo-hoot Kiwat, The Caddo Grass House.

By the mid 1800's, the rapidly declining Caddo population had been forced out of their homelands and relocated to the area around Binger, Oklahoma.

- Right there, that one.

[Narrator] Recently, through the combined efforts of the Texas Historical Commission and a group of determined volunteers... - Let's mark that one.

[Narrator] A Caddo elder and his apprentice returned to the forests of East Texas.

[Phil] You got plenty of the marker?

[chainsaw revving] [Narrator] Here, they joined with the local community in building a traditional grass house on the land of their ancestors.

[Volunteer] Thirty!

[singing and drumming] ♪ ♪ [Phil] You know, in the old days, they may not have debarked them.

Because when they put them in there and started a fire, you know, the bugs would probably disappear.

- At least eight years before I got here, people were talking about building this Caddo house.

And it never managed to come to fruition.

Opportunity came for us to come together and make this project happen.

It wasn't such a hard sell.

We were all really excited about it.

- I had to locate a Caddo to help us do this.

And I realized quickly after taking the job here that Phil Cross was the person they had been contacting earlier.

- Once you have the Caddo invested, once Phil and Chad were on board, and then a group of volunteers that are excited, support from funding agencies follows.

So, once those things fell into place, it just took a little bit of effort for writing grants and spreading the word.

[Phil] You're my star de-barker, I'm watching you.

Somebody's gonna get the award.

We need about 30 feet out.

So, I am gonna do, how many steps, five steps?

- Five steps, yeah.

- OK. [mower running] We're skimming the grass now because we're gonna remove the turf before we start digging the holes and bending the poles.

Mow your lawn is the first Caddo rule.

[Volunteer] [laughing] Mow your lawn!

[Phil] Yeah.

- As far as I am aware, Phil Cross, the Caddo elder that is helping us build this house, supervising the construction, is the last Caddo that knows how to build one of these structures.

[singing and drumming] - My name is Phil Cross.

I am an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

That's located north of Anadarko, Oklahoma, east of Binger.

I grew up on our allotment that was granted in 1901 to our family when our reservation was broken up.

- Phil Cross is the only Caddo elder that knows how to build this style of grass house.

So, he needed an extra hand and wanted to pass the tradition along to another tribal member.

And, you know, I was able to go down to Texas and help with the house.

[Phil] OK, here's what we are gonna do.

We're gonna measure every 30 inches and mark it with a flag.

[rumbling engine] Good, that's good.

[rumbling engine] - This site is protected under state and federal law as a state archeological landmark in Texas.

So, not anyone can just come out here and dig holes in the ground and find stuff.

And what we're doing to build the house is first thing we have to do is dig holes for the poles.

[singing and drumming] [Phil] This one right here is especially, and that one next to it.

We'll have to put some extra muscle to get them to bend, but they will.

- I guess whenever I get older, I'd like to pass it on so that people can still connect with this in the future and know that this was a Caddo house and this is how we would do it.

And this is what it would look like.

- That's way too many to lift the pole, but anyway.

[group laughing] Plus... - Put it in.

Put it in.

[Phil] OK, go ahead with it.

[group chattering] [Victor] Keep it balanced.

Trying to keep it from hitting the edge.

[group cheering and applauding] [Volunteer] Wow.

[Phil] Up, up, up, up, tilt up.

Hopefully it's long enough, it may not be.

May be too thick, we may have to redo it.

Cut it off and redo it, but see how it goes.

[Victor] There you go, yeah.

[Phil] Victor's the pole-bending champ.

[Victor] We'll be able to get it from that.

[Volunteer] Is this on the job training?

[Phil] That's good, not too far up.

[Victor] Sometimes Phil would say, you know, this pole needs to be moved in or out a little bit.

And so that took untying it from the frame, scooting it out or pulling it in or trying to get it right.

- Chad, can you slide the knot that way up on the big pole?

Yeah, like that.

- Standing up there on the scaffolding, wrestling this thing into position, holding onto it, and Phil trying to say, "Move the pole in about two inches."

OK, what's two inches to you?

'Cause I can't see two inches while I'm holding this pole.

Standing up here on this 20-foot-tall scaffolding.

[laughing] - This one here has got a severe bend right up there I don't like.

[singing and drumming] OK, push it back, right there, right there.

OK, turn it loose there.

Tie it up good, you got it tied?

[Volunteer] Yep.

[Phil] That looks OK, it's a little out of balance, but I think we can go with it.

[Caddoan elder singing] ♪ ♪ - Spiral it real, pull it up real tight as you go along, yeah, if you can.

Now pull that tight and go around once, and then wrap it under here.

Very good, wrap it on itself there, right here now.

Like that.

[Caddoan elder singing] I think we got the hoop here.

[Caddoan elder singing] [generator rumbling] Can you get this edge, Chad, over to this pole?

Or is it too far over?

Or get it up as high as you can.

[group chattering] [Volunteer] Yay!

[Phil] Move it out a little bit.

A little more, that's about, that's good about right there.

You're gonna be here tomorrow.

We're losing our tying team tomorrow.

[Volunteer] Oh, he's not gonna be here?

[Phil] He's not gonna be here, and Chad's going home.

[Volunteer] Oh, OK. [Phil] Boy, that's a long pole, and it's really thick.

Let's cut it off another 30 inches.

Yeah, don't let it flop.

[saw buzzing] This is an exercise in pounding.

You need your pounding certificate.

[Volunteer] So, are you gonna live in this when it's finished?

[Phil] Yeah, I'm gonna be in it for year-round.

So, I want people to bring food.

I kinda like barbecue, pizza's good, too.

You know, just keep me supplied.

[Phil laughing] Boy, that's a long pole.

We probably could have shortened that by...

I hope that one holds together.

[log snapping] [Phil laughing] That one looked like it was dried a bit.

[Victor] We look at the site and you imagine that there were several hundred Caddo living here together.

[soft flute music] They all need a place to sleep.

So, if one can imagine looking out and seeing 30 houses out here, for example.

What would that look like?

They would've had gardens around them.

They would've been organized and spaced based on social rank.

Certain people would've been living in certain areas, similar to the way we do things today.

They would have traded.

They would've move things back and forth between the houses.

They would have used the space.

It was a common area within the plaza to do things.

And so, houses would've been an integral part of that.

They would help define space in a lot of ways.

- Right now, we're cutting additional willow saplings for the thatch material for the house.

This is basically just in case we need some additional runs to finish.

We're at the same location where we got the first batch of willow from.

But, now it's not marked.

It's summertime, and we're having to hack our way into the location.

You got two?

- I'm working on my Masters in teaching and my teaching certification right now.

So, just kind of a student, and looking for a teaching position to teach middle school math.

[saw cutting] I really love architecture and kind of more rustic primitive-type designs that I think are more green and sustainable, and just kind of combines all those concepts.

- Well, I'm a senior at Sam Houston State University.

I have a major in History with a minor in American Studies.

I can tell you all about government policy.

But I know very little about Caddo culture.

The way that they danced, the songs that they sang.

Because, when we look back now, our traditional culture is all European influenced.

We lost a lot of who we were prior to European contact.

And that's why it's been so special for me to interact with Phil is because these are the things that he knows and the things that he is willing to tell anybody who will listen.

[singing and drumming] [Phil] Boy, that's way up there, isn't it?

[Phil laughing] Chad, we'll let you finish out on that big ladder over there as we get, as you go around, so... - A lot of people growing up, they go, "Oh, you lived in a teepee," or this and that, and it's just a common misconception.

And so, it's nice to be like, well, this was our kind of house that we had, being out here in the piney woods.

We weren't a plains tribe, so these were the resources that were available to us.

So, this is how we made it.

[Phil] The grass will come down and overlap here.

- This was the portion where the pine poles are already tied and we're adding the willow crossbars.

And so, you start at the bottom.

And then you use that as a ladder to step up and up and up and up.

And it would've been scary except that it was so much fun.

I really enjoyed the idea of connecting with people in the past who have done this for millennia.

And that people have been climbing up here, and this is the way it's done.

- That one, boy, it just has a mind of its own.

You know, if they all move together, that's fine.

Let me look.

It's a lot better.

[drumming music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Noah!

Tie those down right now, let's get those tied up.

- Well, me and my mom, we started out on the friends group and we would always come to the meetings and things.

And then, they started to rebuild the grass house.

And then we started to volunteer and help with that.

And then, we just got more involved with them.

Growing up, I've been by this place dozens of times.

I mean, we stop by here a lot.

And every time we come here, I never really listen.

[Phil] Gotta be ready.

[Noah] But I'm starting to listen.

There's a lot of history and knowledge here that you can gain.

[Caddo elder singing] [Caddo elder singing] [Phil] These things are robust.

[Caddo elder singing] - One of the first problems we had is that we didn't know if we could harvest enough switchgrass to complete the house.

It takes a lot of grass and the type of switchgrass we use is not readily available now as it once was.

[chainsaw revving] - It's amazing how much grass goes into this.

You don't really know by just looking at the structure, like, oh that's just you know, a lot of bundles of brass.

[ethereal music] ♪ ♪ [Jeffery] Phil acted as not only the architect and the builder of the structure, but he was what the Caddo called the Tama.

They would walk around during housebuilding with a switch and good-naturedly drive people forward in working and have quality work.

And nobody got their feelings hurt, nobody got upset.

[Phil] I need to put a strengthener on there.

[Jeffrey] But it was to keep the work going.

And he knew the old ways, which this would be.

So, he could direct us.

- That may work.

Plop that about right there, then take it to that one I was just looking at.

Get you a couple of lengths.

OK.

Pound it on the ground to get it level, OK?

That's the first thing.

Go inside here.

Take it to him.

As far as you can get it in there, keep going.

He'll grab it.

It's supposed to be 3 1/2 inches thick.

So, Chad, you're just gonna, you're just gonna be guessing all the time, OK?

Smoothing it out a bit, just like that.

Push them up tight against the former tie.

Yeah, now, spread them out a bit.

Push out about eight inches in the first push, OK?

[Volunteer] OK. [Phil] When we get up further, there will be a handler who will receive grass.

Well, I'm already ready for about a two-hour break.

You guys keep on here, I'll be back after lunch.

[group laughing] - I reached a point where Phil was telling me what to do.

And so, I would just do it and try to empty my head of all thoughts of conventional housebuilding.

Or any of the things I knew how to do, because this was so unlike that.

[Phil] But it's just over the willow below.

[Jeffrey] It was unbelievably hot and the only thing that made it bearable in that heat was the camaraderie of the community that we developed.

[wood paddle slapping thatch] [Phil] Keep whomping.

That's what a whomper does.

[soft flute music] - The Caddo were horticulturists.

They managed the landscape, if they wanted to plant something, they cleared the area and they planted it.

So, knowing that they were establishing villages, they would have prepared large areas for grass.

They would have cultivated grass and created plots for that.

That might've been something that they used in their annual process, to say we can build a house now.

We have the grass ready.

They did manage the landscape significantly.

They cleared areas, they planted things.

They had, of course, their stable crops, corn, beans, and squash.

But there's nothing to say that they also didn't plant medicinal herbs just for flavor.

Medicines, they planted that.

Grass would've been just another thing that they would have managed.

[droning flute music] [Rachel] The Caddo lived here, they managed this land.

They had a rich, wonderful civilization.

And eventually, because of exploration and colonialism, they're no longer here; this is no longer their home.

[soft flute music] What makes my position worthwhile is to figure out how to build relationships with individuals.

How to bring meaning back to this space.

So, for the Caddo today, that they can reclaim some of the sacredness that is their right.

It's their homeland.

[soft drumming music] ♪ ♪ - Phil passing down the knowledge and showing a group of people how to do it and we're all incredibly fascinated with it.

Being there every step of the way and seeing how trees were selected, how they were cut, how poles were planted, how the grass was cut, how the willow was cut, and how they're all assembled.

And being there every step of the project has been phenomenal for me in my education of Caddo traditions.

[Phil] Keep going.

[Catherine] The Caddo, they developed their way of building.

Needle coming through.

Was working together.

And I think that that's really happened here as well.

[ethereal flute music] [Phil] Caddos built these into modern times, but probably not long after 1920s or 30s, Caddos virtually stopped building this grass-thatched house.

[Victor] This house is done using, as best as we can guess, traditional materials.

But we're using modern methods to do it.

[Phil] Whew.

[Phil humming softly] [machinery operating] [Phil humming softly] [singing and drumming] ♪ ♪ [Phil] OK, I'm coming under this one in here.

Good?

[Victor] Yeah, that'll work.

[Phil] OK. [rustling of thatch] It's leaning a bit to the north is why I'm doing this.

[Victor] Perfect.

[ethereal flute music] [Phil] I didn't intend to work up a sweat till about noon.

[group laughing] [Victor] Another four hours to go.

- Holy cow.

- Hey, how you doing, good to see you.

[Phil] Yeah, that's good, that helps.

Yeah, you can't... [Volunteer] The grass and-- [Phil] OK. [Volunteer] We're going to have to start tying the green stuff.

- It's all cut, the green grass of home.

OK.

This is the next to the last one.

Then, we'll do the top, which is this grass over here.

So, if this moves along, you know, we'll be there, right there today, we might have something to do tomorrow, but I doubt it.

It looks like we've got about eight feet of thatching on the very crown to finish this.

Is that the last one going in?

[Volunteer] Last bundle.

- This is been a special privilege, really an honor to do this.

These houses haven't been done, very few over the last century, 1900s.

So, doing one here on this site, where our ancestors were and where there were many houses like this on the site, it's been particularly gratifying.

[group applauding] [Kendall] Congratulations!

[Phil] Good going, Kendall, you... Madeleine, you and John have been stalwart.

[John] Thank you.

[Phil] You're the guy, you and Vic.

John, good work, man, you are just one of the core team.

[serene music] [birds chirping] ♪ ♪ [Jeffrey] We're making a real connection between this place and real living people.

We need everyone to understand that the Caddo are still a vibrant culture.

They have their songs, they have their dances, they have their stories.

And here, we have a place in which we can make those connections.

And we can have an educational opportunity that will last a lifetime.

[Chad] It's a really special place to me, it's our homelands.

It's a burial site.

Our ancestors are just steps away from us.

[singing and drumming] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [Narrator] Koo-Hoot Kiwat, The Caddo Grass House is funded in part by a grant from the Texas Historical Commission.