ABSTRACT
The cities that now line the northeast coast had their genesis under widely varying circumstances, which created innumerable, unique layouts. Across northern New England and southern Canada, "wigwam" has come to mean a conical, bark-covered structure framed with straight poles, much like the tipi, but not mobile. However, to those Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living along the Atlantic coast of New England the traditional wigwam was dome-shaped. The Cape Cod house of New England, often referred to as a "cape," was derived from the medieval prototype, the "hall and parlor," which was brought to the New World from England by the early colonists and adapted to their new homeland. The saltbox house is a very close relative to the cape and springs from similar, post-medieval, English roots. The most typical precedent for a low-rise city dwelling found in the northeast is the row house, also referred to as the townhouse, which is found in profusion in all its major cities.
