The Man Who Kicked Off America’s Yurt Craze

Yurts are cylindrical homes commonly used among nomadic groups in Mongolia. Since the early 1990s, though, this style of dwelling has also been a trendy alternative in America. Popular for their easy construction, yurts are often found at national parks or festivals like Burning Man or Coachella. Bill Coperthwaite, a Harvard graduate, is attributed with popularizing the American yurt. Atlas Obscura‘s Peter Andrey Smith details Coperthwaite’s contribution to the yurt movement in this article.