home is where the heart and soul is

According to Uptons's "From an American Icon," houses are an integral part of a family's identity.

"The house owes its importance to its association with the family.  All the indigenous and immigrant cultures who have lived in what is now the United States have identified the family as the core institution of their societies, although they have defined it in very different ways.  However they are defined, families are complex institutions.  Shared values bind them, but internal divisions distinguish their members as individuals and according to their assigned roles, as spouses, parents, children, servants.  Equally important, families have histories - gene pools, genealogies, family stories and traditions: they are constellations of memories that surface in surprising ways from one generation to the next."

Buying a house is one of the most important things a person does in his life, almost the same as getting married or having a first child. It marks a milestone in life and the mark of a new family moving away from their established families, embarking on their own individual journey. People raise children, entertain hobbies, entertain other people, entertain themselves in a house. Everything inside of it is individual to that particular family, and the architecture and landscape, as well as the furnishings and items inside of the house, help to tell the story/history of that family. We know so much about people in American history due to the things found in houses, and the way the houses were constructed. Houses are an amazing dense fact used to describe American history and life.