What can be learnt from a 17th century American town

In Plymouth, Massachusetts- site of the colony built by the Mayflower passengers - Matteo Brault spends his days living a 17th-century life, along with dozens of other re-enactors on the modern-day Plimoth Plantation. Brault works full-time as a 17th-century style blacksmith, using traditional tools like a grindstone, hand-made nails, and large bellows for making the fire hot enough for forging iron and steel. He also helps build traditional shelters. The simplest homes in town were built using crotchets- natural forks in trees- as support for the ridgepole of the roof. The walls are built up with “wattle”- small sticks for the lattice structure- and “daub”- a mortar of clay, earth, and grasses. Instead of using the traditional English lime wash to protect the walls, the colonists took advantage of the plentiful wood in America and created clapboard siding by cleaving wood into thin boards.