Historical Marker Program

Sod House

Alfalfa County
Location: on OK-8, five miles north of Cleo Springs at Sod House Museum
Coordinates: 36.472189, -98.425992
Material: Granite
Topics: Agriculture; Environmental/Cultural Ecology; Land Openings; Settlement Patterns; Territorial Period, 1861–1907

This is the only complete, restored, and intact sod house remaining in Oklahoma. As Oklahoma was settled, homesteaders cut long furrows of sod into blocks and stacked them to form walls. Openings were left for windows and doors. Thousands of sod houses once dotted the prairie but eventually were destroyed by the harsh climate of the Great Plains. This house, constructed by Marshall McCully, was protected by trees and a frame building.