During the 1600's did they sell a lot of houses in Rhode Island?

Answer 1

It would have been a Realtors dream come true, and a buyers worst nightmare. And think of the nightmare a construction superintendent had to face with his nearest glass supplier sitting a four month voyage away. Every board and every brick had to be put together on site and the kiln and forms were still sitting on a London quay waiting for the export license to clear the harbormaster. There was no local Ace Hardware to run to for a few pounds of nails.

The floor-plan might have been quite basic but obtaining seasoned lumber was out of the question and anything close to dimensional lumber would have to wait for another hundred years to reach the marketplace. The roofing was thatch and required hundreds of man-hours just to cut and bring to the work site. For a front door hinge you needed a stout strap of leather because the cost of an iron hinge was outlandish for this version of suburbia.