Other Homes

I am certainly not the first person to think that it would be a good idea to live underground.  Most primitive cultures figured out that a cave or earth covered dwelling had many benefits.  Even today, many cultures around the world (particularly those in dry areas with extreme climate and a shortage of wood) still consider this to be the most reasonable way to build a home.  I will slowly add “History” and “Around the World” pages under this one…  Find them in the Pages tree in the side bar or under the pull downs at the top of the page.

Fiction also has its share of earth sheltered living.  Tolkien is famous for his Hobbit and Jules Verne had “The Undeground City“.   Kids are comfortable with earth sheltered homes because so many kids shows (telletubbies) (Franklin) (Alfred Hedgehog) (Fraggle Rock) feature them.  Bugs Bunny was always safest in his underground home.  To be fair, these underground homes were chosen because these characters were based on animals (even made up ones) that lived underground, but I still enjoy seeing them.  Ironically, The Flintstones lived in a 50’s style, above grade, ranch house (I guess they were primitive)…  Still, it was made from stone and had cave like interiors, so it sort of counts.   Actually, Dick Clark is famous for living in a Flintstones style home, but I guess it would be a stretch to call it an earth sheltered home… Of course, Batman and Bond villains always lived in underground homes.  I think it was in one of the “Agent Cody Banks” movies (I have young children) that I saw an underground “lair” that had a central column and concrete ribs similar to the structure planned for my own home…

Here in North America, it was common to find earth sheltered homes in the 19th century and even with the natives before that.   I am convinced that if not for our easy access to cheap energy, more of us would still be living that way today.   However, even thought their neighbors think they are a bit strange, there are many of these earth sheltered homes around the country.  Most are successful, others were spectacular failures.   I plan to add sub pages about some of those efforts also.  You can also find some interesting examples on the “Links” page.