the salt box house

I had a conversation recently with a fellow from Missouri who had some experience with home building. He was wondering why New England houses had such conservative eave and rake overhangs (the eaves and rakes are to a house what a brim is to a hat--if that helps). I replied that water management in the Northeast was devoted more to snow than rain, and shallow overhangs are okay from a water management point of view. Also, deep eaves can restrict light in second story windows, which is undesirable in this latitude. The converse to these things is true in southern climes. Deep overhangs, and roofs that have less of a pitch to them will perform better.

I hope I'm right about this claim I'm making. I want to believe that a purely aesthetic decision, i.e. on houses like the one pictured here, wouldn't  persist if it caused repeating problems.