This photo of a sod house is on display at the Edwards Country Museum in Kinsley, Kansas.
Sod is soil covered with grass and held together by intertwined roots. In Kansas, and elsewhere during the settlement of the great plains, people built houses of sod because there weren’t enough trees to build log cabins. They cut the sod into bricks, removed the bricks from the earth, and piled them up to form walls.
This photo shows the wall of a preserved sod house on display inside the museum. Sod worked as a construction material because the deep, strong roots of prairie grasses held the sod bricks together.
Contrary to our modern expectations, a carefully constructed sod house could be sturdy and well-insulated. It did require regular maintenance, although the walls inside and out could be covered with stucco for protection and improved appearance. Roofing materials were also an issue — poorly chosen roofs could be washed away by rain.