Yankees and Southerners: Housing

Yankees	Southerners
14	15
Although many lived in log cabins at first, they built small clapboard cottages as soon as possible. The Yankee invention of "balloon" framing allowed houses to be built quickly and cheaply. Instead of using heavy timbers with time-consuming joints, the balloon frame relied on a light framework of standard-cut boards fastened with nails and covered with weatherboards.	Following a southern frontier tradition, many built one-room log cabins, about 18 sq. feet. As the family grew, another log cabin was sometimes built with a connecting porch, called a "dog trot," to promote cooling in the summer. Often a rear extension, called an "ell" was added for a kitchen, store room, or bedroom.

© Illinois State Museum 31-Dec-96