Gourd History

The Gourd Reserve

The Gourd has been used by man as far back as we can tell, since the very beginning.  A gourd grew over Jonah to shade him from the heat as God used this vegetable to teach Jonah a lesson about forgiveness.  Pottery and utensils dating back to prehistory may well have been fashioned and made after the shape and uses of gourds.

• The Purple Martin and the Gourd
  
  The Purple Martin is one bird who's mere existance is today nearly totally dependant on man to supply a nesting place for them, and they most commonly accept a large gourd which has been named after the bird, the Purple Martin Gourd. This gourd is so preferred by Purple Martins that companies now manufacture plastic Purple Martin bird houses molded in the shape of this gourd. How could these birds have come to this dependency?
• Native American Uses
  
  Submitted by Scott Nelson, this page lists some of the uses of Gourds by different Native American Tribes.
• Native Water Wings
  
  some history on gourds and their uses through the century. These gourds were used as water wings, or a safety floatation device.
• Gourd Whistle / Ocarina
  
  Native American and Hawaiians alike made musical instruments out of gourds including the gourd whistle, gourd flute and gourd ocarina.
• Gourd Utensils
  
  long before we had plastics and molding machins, we had gourds, and many gourd utensils were made to make life easier in a very similar way to that of modern day materials make utensils.