You are correct, most rural whites lived in cabins just like the slave cabins on plantations. My ancestors built such a cabin in east Texas in the 1820 or 1830.s and I was able to see it many years ago when I was about 12 .
Since I was so young I didn’t know where it was exactly and I couldn’t find it again when I was older and looked for it.
It was called a “ dog trot” cabin. There were 2 rooms joined together by a open roofed area between the rooms.
You know what's funny? How people think that people "back then" really knew how to build houses because they lasted so long, when the truth is that only well-built houses lived to tell the tale--so the notion is fostered that they built things well. Truth is, people built junk…and it rotted away..
You wouldn't have to go back to 1810 to see squalor--there are old homesteads all over from just a hundred years ago, to be found falling down in woods and fields.