Because they are low-order goods and services
The New England colonies were very religious, mainly Puritan. They consisted of close together houses. This was because of the Puritan policy on basically spying on your neighbor to see if they were doing anything unworthy. Small plots of farmland surrounded the community and separated them from other communities. Southern colonies were mainly agricultural, and the main cash crop was tobacco. Houses weren't close together, as they were surrounded by large plots of cultivated land.
human remains and pyramids built close to each other
It was done for protection, community (closeness made life easier since transportation was limited), friendliness, and yes money. People spent time with people years ago.
Colonial settlements would have been developed near a water source and in a relatively safe place. They would have the cabins or structures built close together for safety sake as well as a central area for children to play and women to work.
Powhatan houses were of the longhouse type. John Smith described the villages he saw: "Their houses are built like our arbors, of small young sprigs bowed and tied, and so close covered with mats, or the bark of trees, very handsomely, that notwithstanding either wind, rain, or weather, they are as warm as stoves but very smoky, yet at the top of the house there is a hole made for the smoke to go into right over the fire. Against the fire they lie on little hurdles of reeds covered with a mat, borne from the ground a foot and more by a hurdle of wood On these, round about the house, they lie, heads and points, one by the other, against the fire, some covered with mats, some with skins, and some stark naked lie on the ground, from six to twenty in a house…. In some places are from two to fifty of these houses together, or but little separated by groves of trees." He saw some longhouses that were 40 to 60 yards (120 to 180 feet) long. They were usually covered with birch bark, but sometimes mats of plant fibre were used instead. The artist John White painted a Powhatan village and clearly showed the longhouses within a stockade of protective poles. See link below for an image:
in case of attack
One of the main reason the houses were built close together in early villages was for protection in case of attack. The homeowners looked out for one another.
protect residents in case of attact
So they could protect each other easily by getting there faster
In early villages, houses were built close together so that help would be near in the case of an attack. An isolated house would be an easy target for roaming bands of Native American tribes. By building homes close together, the colonists were able to keep watch on the neighborhood and see when something was amiss.
Actually the earliest villages usually had anywhere from 150 to 200 villagers. They built there houses close together to protect from wind and competing villages from attacking. 150 to 200 A+ students
New England's towns and villages were very close together at first. The houses were built so that the people could protect each other. There was usually a group of houses and then a group of shops like a bakery, blacksmith, and general store.
in case of an attack
The houses in Massachusetts in 1620 were built like cabins. People would build houses close to each other which formed small villages.