The Pilgrims left England in pursuit of religious freedom, but they couldn't break free from their motherland’s preferred style of home design: the traditional English cottage. Though that very first winter in America was extremely difficult—more than half of the Pilgrims died of illness—in their second year they were finally able to build a few houses. These homes were all similar in style, with steeply pitched thatched roofs and hard-packed earth floors.
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