In the old days, wood siding was split from logs and attached with hand-made iron nails. I asked an enactor at the Plymouth Settlement why clapboards were used on these houses, but not on houses in the Jamestown Settlement? Both settlements dated to about the same time. Both settlements built timber frame houses with the walls filled in with waddle (branches woven together) and daub (a mixture of mud and organic materials added for strength).He told me that they didn't have a good source of lime in the Plymouth area. They had tried burning oyster shells but it was very labor intensive. The lime, when added to mud, would waterproof the mixture. Without lime, the mud walls were quickly eroded by rain. Also, as the Bay Colony is much colder than Virginia, an additional layer of clapboard better insulated the homes.
