The Cherokee Phoenix reports that the frames of one Cherokee summer and three winter homes have risen near the Cherokee Heritage Center as work on an expanded Ancient Village continues apace.  Cherokee Heritage Center crews completed the summer and winter pair last year, and are using them as prototypes for the expansion.

And what an expansion it is.  Workers are going from last year's pair of houses to 16 this year, eight winter and eight summer, as well as constructing "council houses, an orchard, ball field, gardens and a re-circulating stream for the expanded village," as the Phoenix reports. The construction isn't just man made—plants and trees important to Cherokee people, such as river cane, will be planted in the village.

“I think we might have the house pairs done by May. We’ve still got some major landscaping and the council house to go. If all goes well, we could have everything finished by the (Cherokee National) holiday,” said CHC Executive Director Carey Tilley to the Phoenix.

The world being created here is set in the early 1700s, a critical time when the Cherokee way of life hadn't yet been influenced by increased trade between the Cherokee and their white neighbors.

For more on this incredible project, click here.