Longhouses were built by native peoples

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 in various parts of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, sometimes reaching over 100 m (328.1 ft) but generally around 5 metre wide. The dominant theory is that walls were made of sharpened and fire-hardened

Fire Hardening

Fire hardening is the process of removing moisture from wood by slowly and lightly charring it over a fire. This makes a point, like that of a spear, or an edge, like that of a knife, more durable....

 poles (up to 1,000 saplings for a 50 m (164 ft) house) driven into the ground and the roof consisted of leaves and grass. Strips of bark were then woven horizontally through the lines of poles to form more or less weatherproof walls, with doors usually in one end of the house, although doors also were built into sides of especially long longhouses.