Willard Carlson Jr., a member of the Yurok Tribe of California, is leading an effort to build a traditional village near a sacred site on the reservation.

Carlson, 59, came up with the idea as he was undergoing substance abuse treatment. He's built a dance pit and a dress house and plans to add a sweat lodge and a plank house for artisans.

Carlson, whose son and other male volunteers are helping build the village, calls it Ah Pah, or “the beginning of the stairway.” He tells The New York Times that it will be a place of healing for “the many people who have lost their way.”

The first brush dance will be held at the site in July.

Get the Story:
A Vision of Reviving Tribal Ways in a Remote Corner of California (The New York Times 3/19)