<P> New England farming families generally lived in wooden houses because of the abundance of trees . A typical New England farmhouse was one - and - a-half stories tall and had a strong frame (usually made of large square timbers) that was covered by wooden clapboard siding . A large chimney stood in the middle of the house that provided cooking facilities and warmth during the winter . One side of the ground floor contained a hall, a general - purpose room where the family worked and ate meals . Adjacent to the hall was the parlor, a room used to entertain guests that contained the family's best furnishings and the parents' bed . Children slept in a loft above, while the kitchen was either part of the hall or was located in a shed along the back of the house . Colonial families were large, and these small dwellings had much activity and there was little privacy . </P> <P> By the middle of the 18th century, New England's population had grown dramatically, going from about 100,000 people in 1700 to 250,000 in 1725 and 375,000 in 1750 thanks to high birth rates and relatively high overall life expectancy . (A 15 - year - old boy in 1700 could expect to live to about 63 .) Colonists in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island continued to subdivide their land between farmers; the farms became too small to support single families, and this threatened the New England ideal of a society of independent yeoman farmers . </P> <P> Some farmers obtained land grants to create farms in undeveloped land in Massachusetts and Connecticut or bought plots of land from speculators in New Hampshire and what later became Vermont . Other farmers became agricultural innovators . They planted nutritious English grass such as red clover and timothy - grass, which provided more feed for livestock, and potatoes, which provided a high production rate that was an advantage for small farms . Families increased their productivity by exchanging goods and labor with each other . They lent livestock and grazing land to one another and worked together to spin yarn, sew quilts, and shuck corn . Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that preserved New England's yeoman society until the 19th century . </P> <P> By the mid-18th century in New England, shipbuilding was a staple, particularly as the North American wilderness offered a seemingly endless supply of timber . (By comparison, Europe's forests had been depleted, and most timber had to be purchased from Scandinavia .) The British crown often turned to the inexpensive yet strongly built American ships . There was a shipyard at the mouth of almost every river in New England . </P>

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