Jetties were used on this side of the pond, just not in common numbers...
I am only aware of a handful of surviving examples.
There is a vestigal surviving aspect - The use of the term Garrison (As Don cites above) in realestate-ese, loosely meaning any "Colonial"-esque home with an overhang. I think this has the same roots as the misnomer that is Indian Shutter and the wild imaginings of overhangs helping hold savages at bay whilst colonials defended their homesteads from second story windows.
Links to several books which cite historical examples -
http://books.google.com/books?q=framed+overhang+in+new+england&btnG=Search+Books
