American Homes.

The American landscape changed considerably during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Until about 1840 many farmers lived in small wood-frame houses. On the western frontier and in the southern backcountry the most common family home was a one-room log cabin with floors of dirt or split logs, an open hearth, and a primitive wooden chimney. Housing styles varied by region, often according to the builder's ethnic origin or the demands of the climate. These small, crowded houses were typically dirty, untidy, and hard to heat. There were larger, two-story houses, usually built along the symmetrical lines of classical Greek architecture, but such homes were rare and belonged only to the wealthiest Americans. By 1840 smaller dwellings were being built in this Greek Revival style as well, and by the 1850s glass windows had become common even in rural areas, making houses brighter and...