Wallace W. Waterman Sod House

The Wallace W. Waterman Sod House is a residence from the 1880s built entirely from blocks of grass and soil, with thick walls and few deeply set openings. The house was later covered with concrete and originally contained three rooms that were expanded in the 1920s.

The house was built in 1886 by Wallace and Libby Waterman, who came from Pennsylvania and settled in this area. In the mid-1920s, the building received additional rooms and was covered with concrete to better protect it from the elements.

The house shows how settlers of the Great Plains dealt with timber scarcity by using the land itself as building material. The thick sod walls and small windows reflect the practical solutions that early residents developed to survive in this region.

The house sits about nine miles north of Big Springs and is reached by a rural road. The area is sparsely settled and visitors should be prepared for paths through open country.

The house was inhabited by the Waterman family until 1989 and is one of the few buildings of this type in the country to remain continuously occupied for so long. This extended period of habitation made it an important record of pioneer living conditions across multiple generations.

Location: Nebraska

Architectural style: rustic architecture

GPS coordinates: 41.18944,-102.07361

Latest update: December 14, 2025 13:03