Creole? In North America?

Around here, creole is a dialect spoken by people from Cape Verde. I hear it daily, since there are so many of them here, although I don't get a word... well, most of the words.
I knew that African descendents in Louisiana are called Creoles, and sort of assumed that this designation extended to certain aspects of French colonial culture (Louisiana was once upon a time a French colony), but I didn't realise that it also applied to a certain type of architecture. So I searched and found several interesting examples of the creole style. I was surprised to see how different creole houses could be, ranging from plain to stunning, and/or tiny to huge...

2 and 4 bay creole cottages 

     4 and 2 bay creole cottages

Creole townhouses

Creole cottage and house

Creole plantation houses