Building shelters was a top priority for the Pilgrims.  By late 1621, there were seven dwellings and four storehouses.  By 1623, when additional ships had brought more settlers, the Colony had twenty houses.

The earliest houses were probably "earthfast," with wooden corner posts sunk directly into the ground, and not built on stone foundations.

The Pilgrims used traditional English building methods.  They found plentiful supplies of oak, pine and walnut.  Builders constructed massive oak frames connected by mortise and tenon joints and fastened with wooden pins called "treenails."  After the pieces were fitted together, the house frame was raised.  Men filled the frame with woven wooden "wattle," and women and children covered it with clay "daub," before adding exterior boards for weather protection.