Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers arrived in North America from Asia at least 14,000 years ago, entering via the Beringia land bridge that once joined the two continents, and eventually made their way to South America. The very first inhabitants hunted Pleistocene megafauna like woolly mammoths, giant bison and glyptodons (pictured) and foraged fruits, seeds, and nuts. They are thought to have lived in two types of dwellings...
Early Paleo-Indians also lived in temporary structures known as brush shelters. As you can see from this image courtesy of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, these proto tipis were simple circular affairs consisting of a frame of wooden poles covered with animal skins or skimmed with mud and weighed down by stones. The interior contained a fire hearth, which was used for cooking, and provided heat and light.
North America's climate became warmer and drier around 6000 BC and the Pleistocene megafauna had died out by this point, heralding the Archaic period, which saw the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming lifestyles. The first Archaic Indian homes (pictured) were tipi-like structures that were very similar to early Paleo-Indian dwellings. Later structures such as those built by post-Archaic Woodland Indians were considerably more sophisticated.
The Woodland Indian culture of Eastern America came into being around 1000 BC. By this time Native Americans were forming into tribes such as the Iroquois and Cherokee, and many were engaged in agriculture, which made for a more settled village-based lifestyle, though hunting remained important. These tribes lived in forested areas, so wood was easy to come by and widely used to construct their dwellings. The simplest were dome-shaped wigwams made from wood frames and bark.
The Plains Indians, which as you might have guessed lived on America's Great Plains, relied on hunting and favoured a more nomadic lifestyle. The tipi (or tepee or teepee), an icon of Native American culture, was the most prevalent structure, though the tribes of the Southern Plains such as the Caddos built wigwam-like structures that they covered in grass.
Like the proto tipis of the early Paleo-Indians, the Plains Indians' tipis consisted of a wood pole frame, which was highly prized given the scarcity of trees on the Great Plains. This was tied together at the top and covered in buffalo skins. Around 12 feet-high, the tent-like structures could be rapidly assembled and taken down, making them perfectly suited to the Plains Indians' nomadic existence.
A flap was cut to make a door, which always faced to the east. A hearth would have taken pride of place at the centre of the tipi and an opening at the top of the structure would have let out any smoke. Like many ancient homes throughout the world, the domestic spaces would often be decorated, with interior walls adorned with meaningful painted symbols and patterns.
The more settled Plains Village Indians constructed square or rectangular wattle and daub houses and later earth lodges. These often partly subterranean dome-shaped dwellings were built using wooden frames, typically with between four and twelve central posts, that were covered with thick layers of earth, which provided excellent insulation from the weather.
Not unlike a Hobbit home or turf house, the upper part of the structure was covered with thick turf to protect against rain, and the dwelling featured a doorway or short entry passage that was usually constructed to the east or south, away from prevailing or cold winds.
As was the case with early Native American homes and indeed many ancient dwellings around the world, earth lodges had a central hearth and a hole in the roof to allow smoke to escape. In addition to the hearth, the typical interior contained storage chambers, raised sleeping platforms and a sacred area with an altar.
The early farmers of America's Southwest included the Ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon and Hohokam cultures. These cultures developed relatively large settlements. For instance, Snaketown, which was a key Hohokam culture settlement along the Gila and Salt rivers in Arizona, was inhabited from 300 BC to 1200 AD. It had a peak population of 3,000 people, who lived mainly in what are now known as pit houses.
Pit houses were also favoured by the early Ancestral Pueblo and Mogollon cultures. These dwellings were typically semi-underground, presumably to help keep the interior cool during the scorching Southwestern summer. They were built using a wood frame that was covered with mud and had an opening in the roof that let out smoke from fires in winter and doubled up as a door, though some versions had entry tunnels.
The later Ancestral Puebloan homes were the most impressive. They included large apartment-like buildings called Great Houses that were constructed using adobe bricks, as well as intriguing cliff dwellings built in the sides of mesas and mountains. This image shows Colorado's 150-room Cliff Palace, which housed 100 residents.
The plank house, which is thought to have originated around 3,000 years ago, was the abode of choice for the cultures of the Pacific Northwest such as the Chinook and Haida tribes. Plank houses were built from planks typically hewn from cedar logs and were square or rectangular in shape.
Resembling the early homes of America's European colonists somewhat, these dwellings had gable roofs with relatively steep pitches to enable rain to drain away, though there was a small opening in the roof to allow smoke to escape. The lack of windows in the plank house was also an adaptation to the damp, windy climate of the Pacific Northwest, keeping out rain and minimising drafts.
Plank houses could extend as long as 100 feet. At the centre was a sunken hearth together with the cooking and living area. This area was surrounded by raised partitioned private sleeping areas. The floor consisted of impacted mud but wood boards were used in colder parts of the Pacific Northwest. The typical plank house contained a carved totem pole called a house post, which helped support the roof and was used for storytelling.
San Miguel de Gualdape, on the modern-day Georgia coast, was the very first European settlement in what became the United States of America. The outpost was founded in September 1526 by Spanish conquistador Lucas Vazquez de Allyon who arrived with hundreds of colonists and a sizable number of enslaved Africans, the first to set foot on American soil. The settlement was probably formed of simple thatched cottages, which would have housed men, women and children.
While no trace of San Miguel de Gualdape has been found, this reconstruction of a so-called board house in Tallahassee's Mission San Luis, which was established in the early 17th century, gives you an idea as to how the homes might have looked. They are likely to have been made from timber with lime plaster used to cover the walls. As more and more Spanish arrived in different parts of the country, the styles of houses began to take on influences from the established Puebloan architecture and adobe ranchos in California.
The interiors of the very earliest thatched cottages would have been very basic with little furniture and home comforts. Doomed to failure, the colony was beset by bad luck from the get-go and was abandoned within a few months. San Miguel de Gualdape also saw America's first slave rebellion. The Spanish had more luck with St. Augustine in present-day Florida, the country's first successful outpost, which was founded in 1565.
Roanoke Colony was England's first stab at colonising America. Two attempts were made by explorer Sir Walter Raleigh to set up a permanent settlement, one in 1585 and the other in 1587, but both failed miserably. The third attempt saw the first mayor, John White, and an estimated 100 colonists, build spartan wattle and daub houses with thatched roofs. White sailed back to England to secure more supplies, but when he returned the village was deserted.
The modest homes at Roanoke are likely to have been similar to those constructed in Jamestown, England's first permanent American colony, which was established in 1607. Formed from strong sawn timber boards, they were based on the simple peasant cottages of the old country. This house is one of those recreated in Jamestown, and shows the distinctive English half-timbered siding and thatched roof.
The interiors of the homes built in Roanoke Colony were no doubt sparsely furnished but little evidence exists that points to exactly how they might have looked. This mock-up of the inside of an early home in Jamestown offers some clues. Furnishings may very well have consisted of several chests (important for transporting precious items across the sea), a simple bed and a small collection of plates, along with other basics.
Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in America. Located on the North River in modern-day New York, it was established in 1615. The trading post consisted of just one simple fort, so lacked any homes as such. The first proper Dutch houses in America were erected in 1624 following the founding of New Amsterdam, the precursor to New York. The Dutch were renowned at the time for their masonry skills and these houses were built from stone and boasted steeply pitched roofs.
While stone was a material the early Dutch homebuilders were very comfortable with, they weren't averse to working with wood either. Indeed, the saltbox-framed Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, which is clad in clapperboard, is New York's oldest surviving building. Initially a small one-room cottage, it dates from 1652.
Built by farmer Pieter Claesen Wyckoff, who was a former indentured servant, the house was restored in 1982 and its original interiors were recreated. The kitchen, with its Dutch stone open hearth and 1650s beam, is the oldest part of the building. The original flooring would most likely have been packed earth rather than wooden boards and the windows lacked glazing.
The earliest Swedes established their colony of New Sweden on the lower reaches of the Delaware River in 1638, in the area of modern-day Wilmington. The first settlement was named Fort Christina after the 12-year-old Queen of Sweden. Swedish colonists introduced their preferred dwelling, which would go on to become an American icon: the log cabin. According to historian Judith Flanders, the first official record of a log cabin appears in 1662, and in 1679 there is mention of a New Jersey house built "according to the Swedish mode… being nothing else than entire trees, split through the middle… and placed in the form of a square, upon each other."
The oldest surviving log cabin in America is thought to be the Nothnagle Log House in Gibbstown, New Jersey. The building is estimated to have been constructed between 1638 and 1643 by Finnish immigrants to New Sweden. The current owners, Doris and Harry Rink, have gone to great lengths to restore the property to its original state, ripping out later additions and dressing it in contemporary furnishings.
The interior looks much like it would have during the 17th century. The bricks in the fireplace are likely to have been repurposed ballast from the ships that conveyed the first Scandinavian immigrants, and the hanging pots are thought to date from the 1590s. The historic log house is actually up for sale for $875,000 (£620k), offering an amazing opportunity to buy a slice of American history.
German immigrants began to arrive in America in large numbers from around 1685, entering the country mainly in Philadelphia and dispersing into the surrounding Pennsylvanian countryside. Like other European immigrants, German colonists brought their architectural styles with them and many early homes had a half-timber construction. Other traditional Germanic buildings were made from stone or were essentially log cabins, looking distinctly medieval: tiny irregular windows, thick walls and very steep roofs.
These settlers, who are confusingly called the Pennsylvania Dutch owing to the mispronunciation of 'Deutsch' as 'Dutch', also built log cabins and stone houses. The Jacob Keim Farmstead in Oley was built in 1753 and typifies the styles used by Pennsylvania's German immigrants. It was constructed from limestone and features a red-tiled roof reminiscent of those found in Bavaria in southern Germany in the 17th century.
Other early German colonial homes were built into banks or hillsides – so-called bank houses – or constructed over a spring to provide running water and a cool space to store food. Whatever the style, the quintessential house consisted of three core rooms: the kuche ('kitchen'), stube ('parlour'), and kammer ('bedroom' or 'chamber'). This beautiful 18th-century German-American home has been restored to its original state by John Milner Architects.
The French claimed a vast swathe of land in America in 1682 and christened their new colony La Louisiane in honour of King Louis XIV. The first French colonial homes were constructed within fortified settlements such as Fort Saint Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in what is now Louisiana. This modern recreation of the fort shows how the early French colonial homes, which were wood constructions featuring steeply pitched tiled roofs and shuttered windows, would have looked.
Another early French colonial residential architectural style was the poteaux-en-terre ('posts-in-the-earth') house supported by hefty posts driven deep into the ground. These dwellings had double-pitched hipped roofs and most crucially were enveloped by porches or galleries, which was an adaptation for the hot summer climate of La Louisiane. One of the best surviving examples is the Maison Bequette-Ribault in Sainte Geneviève, Missouri.
Fine stonework, extensive hand-hewn woodwork and an open fireplace show the craftsmanship needed to construct these fine early houses. Now owned by the Chaumette Vineyards & Winery, the Creole house, which is now open to the public, recently underwent an extensive restoration. Its interiors, which are filled with period furniture, are typical of early French colonial residences.
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