Hard as it may be to believe, about 6,000 North American people actually live underground. Although uncommon, May 14 is National Underground America Day-a time to recognize people who choose to live this way.
One of the top advantages to a subterranean dwelling is energy conservation. Completely covered homes or earth-sheltered homes are covered on all sides with earth.
Earth-bermed homes leave one side exposed. Both types facilitate stable temperatures within the home and protection from the elements. The earth itself is a natural insulator.
In California, early dwellings were made of thick adobe (clay dirt) bricks for the same reason. The thick adobe brick kept homes temperate even during hot summers.
Readers may also remember hobbits Frodo Baggins and Bilbo Baggins of J.R.R. Tolkein's famous "The Hobbit" and "Fellowship of the Rings" books as earth-dwellers. Both characters fondly spoke of comfortable lives in their cozy hobbit-holes.
Famous pioneer 
autobiographer Laura Ingalls Wilder described her family constructing and living in a "dugout home" in her book, "On the Banks of Plum Creek."
The Ingalls Family's original dugout home was lost to the elements years ago. A replica was built as a museum that can still be seen today.
There are some disadvantages of earth homes. They are dark. For people who enjoy lots of light and windows, this type of house is not a good fit.
During the environmental movements of the 1970's National Underground America Day was founded by Malcolm Wells. The day recognizes that thousands of Americans dwell within the Earth, not just upon it. Wells, a writer, illustrator, draftsman, lecturer, cartoonist, columnist, and solar consultant (1926 – 2009) is considered “the father of modern earth-sheltered architecture”.
Wells practiced what he preached by living in a modern earth-sheltered building of his own 
design. He took up the challenge of underground architecture as he believed the Earth’s surface was “made for living plants, not industrial plants”.
Retiring in 2004, Wells continued his advocacy for underground living until the end of his life in 2009.
For more information on Underground America Day visit www.malcomwells.com. To search or post about National Underground America Day, use #UndergroundAmericaDay.
Images courtesy of National Underground America Day and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museums.
Thanks for reading "Celebrating Hobbit Holes Underground America Day May 14."
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