What people admire, they imitate.  In the early 19th century especially, Americans were taken with historic Greece as the example for our own young Democracy.  From the earliest days of the American Republic, the tendency was to broaden the suffrage by reducing property qualifications for holding office or voting.  Contemporary Greece was in the news then, as it underwent a successful campaign to leave the Ottoman Empire.   The love of things Greek permeated American life.  Natural features and political domains took Greek names... borrowing directly (Athens, Sparta, Corinth, etc. etc.) or through imaginative coinings... (Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Ypsilanti). 

Architecture, too reflected this admiration for Greek ideals.  One architectural style could be adopted for members of all social classes.  On the previous page you saw a picture of the parthenon:  Below is a full scale recreation from Nashville.  (Nearby, Andrew Jackson's plantation, the Hermitage, was also built in a greek revival style).
The style was adaptable to a wide range of socio-economic situations.  It could be the house of a merchant, doctor, or lawyer, or it could be the house of a plantation grandee.  In Bristol, there are several quite fine small Greek Revival Cottages.  The one on the corner of High and Church Streets, across from the Common, is particularly worth noting.  It suited civic buildings, as well.
Click on the house to the left for further examples and information.
Click