In a message dated 98-04-13 11:07:14 EDT, you write:
 
<<
 > We see references to "caves,"  probably turf houses, that were dug by early
 > settlers for their first winter's housing. Were these "caves" another
 > transplanted European housing type (turf houses) that would have been well
 > known to the Swedes and Finns who first settled the hinterland along the
 > Delaware?
 
 Ned, I recently finished a report on a pithouse dwelling from ca 1640s in
York
 County. S s'pect it might have been roofed with turves, but who knows?
 
 --
 Dan Mouer
 Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology >>
 
 
Hey Guys--In 1732 the Witherspoon family arrived in South Carolina from
Belfast, Ireland. According to Robert Witherspoon, when they arrived the men
went ahead to build "dirt houses rather like potatoe [sic] houses." His
"dollorous hut...[was]...nothing but a very mean dirt house......the rain
quickly penetrated the powls and and brought down the sand that covered over,
which threatened to cover us alive." They were disappointed that thes
structures were not "fine timbered houses". (in Merrens, Roy (ed) 1977: The
Colonial SC Scene" pub. by USC Press, Columbia)
 
We get earthfast houses up to about the turn of the 19th century it seems, but
post in ground farm structures are still in use today. Bugs do eat the poles,
but they seem to get replaced as necessary...
 
Carl Steen