The dogtrot, also known as a breezeway house, dog-run, or possum-trot, is a style of house that was common throughout the Southeastern United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some theories place its origins in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Some scholars believe the style developed in the post-Revolution frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. Others note its presence in the South Carolina Lowcountry from an early period. The main style point was a large breezeway through the center of the house to cool occupants in the hot southern climate.
The Baldwin-Grantham House, also known as Locust Grove and Shanghai House, was built in 1749 in Shanghai, West Virginia, in the Back Creek district of Berkeley County. The earliest portion of the house is a log cabin built in 1749 by Frances Baldwin. Frances and his wife Sarah lived there until 1790, when they sold the property to Joseph Grantham and Jacob Fry. William Grantham inherited the land from his father and circa 1820 built a brick kitchen addition onto the cabin, which now forms the middle part of the house.
John Mathias House, also known as the Mathias Homestead, is a historic home located at Mathias, Hardy County, West Virginia. It consists of two sections, one built about 1797 and the second about 1825. The two hewn-log sections are joined by a frame "dog trot," or what has been referred to locally as the "entry." The older section is two stories with a double porch and lightly taller than the newer section. It was home to the Mathias family for 165 years before being deeded to the Mathias Civic Center Association in 1974.
The Crow House near Star City, Arkansas is a historic house that was built in about 1874. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The house is a dog-trot style house that was built of cypress wood in about 1874. In 1976, the house had been vacant for about five years, but had structural integrity. It was deemed significant for NRHP listing as an example of a late-1800s rural farmhouse.
The Taylor Log House and Site is a historic plantation site on Arkanasas Highway 138 in rural Drew County, Arkansas, near the town of Winchester. Included on the plantation site is the best-preserved dog trot house in Arkansas's Lower Delta region. The Taylor Log House, a two-story dog trot built out of cypress logs, was built in 1846 by John Martin Taylor, a Kentucky native who established a plantation on the banks of Bayou Bartholomew. The building was moved, probably in the 1880s. In addition to the house, the site is believed to include archeologically significant remnants of a wide variety of outbuildings. The site was the subject of archeological activities in the 1990s.
The Jay Lewis House is a historic house at 12 Fairview Drive in McGehee, Arkansas. The two story wood frame house was built in 1955 to a design by Edward Durell Stone, an Arkansas native and a leading proponent of new formalism. It is the only Stone-designed house in Desha County, and one of only five in the state. The exterior of the house is clad in vertical cypress boards, with a porch that wraps completely around the house, and a breezeway connecting to a carport, built at the same time. The porch roof is supported by six Douglas fir beams. The interior of the house is based on Stone's modern reinterpretation of the traditional Arkansas dog trot form, with the central living/dining/kitchen area acting as the central element of that form. Other rooms of the house connect to this section, and are separated from it by Shōji screens. The house's basic design is similar to that of another house Stone designed in Englewood, New Jersey. The house is largely unchanged since its construction; one chimney has been replaced due to storm damage.
The Hickman House is a historic house at 3568 Mt. Holly Road, in rural Ouachita County, Arkansas, south of Camden. The single story frame house was built in 1898, probably by George Edward Hickman, whose father John was one of the county's early settlers. The house is in Folk Victorian style; it has an L-shaped plan, sheathed in original weatherboard. Its principal ornamentation is in the chamfered posts of its porch, which also has sawn fretwork. The house faces east, and is set about 150 feet (46 m) back from the road; its front facade has two windows above the porch, and two that open onto it. There is a "dog-trot" style barn about 150 feet (46 m) southwest of the house.
The Fielder House is a historic house in Fordyce, Arkansas. Its oldest portion built in 1875, it is the oldest building in Dallas County, predating Fordyce's founding. It stands on the south side of US 79B in the west side of the city, and looks today like a single-story central-hall gable-roof structure with a rear shed addition, and a shed-roof porch extending across the front. The core of the house is a log structure, which is now the west side of the building. In the 1880s the eastern pen was added, creating a dog trot structure, which was then filled in and enclosed by later additions. The house is also notable for being the home of the aunt of author Harold Bell Wright, who is said to have written some of his works there.
The Ed Knight House is a historic house near Pine Grove, a rural community in Dallas County, Arkansas. It is located on County Road 275 off Arkansas Highway 128. In appearance it resembles a double pen house, a narrow and wide structure with a gable roof. Its oldest portion is a dog trot log structure built c. 1880, after which the central passageway was enclosed and an ell added to the south end. This was then sheathed in horizontal weatherboarding. The front facade has a hip-roof porch extending across its width, supported by six turned posts, with jigsaw-cut brackets. The Knights were a prominent local family who settled the area in the 1840s.
The Dr. Boaz House is a historic house in rural western Clark County, Arkansas. It is located on the south side of Arkansas Highway 26, just west of its junction with County Road 291, near the hamlet of Clear Spring. The dog trot house was probably built c. 1891 by Samuel Peeples as a wedding present for his daughter Annie and Doctor A. Boaz. The house is entirely vernacular in style, and is sheathed primarily in board-and-batten siding. The northern (front) facade has a porch extending its full width, with a chimney on the exterior of the western wall. A kitchen ell extends to the rear (southward) of the western portion of the main block. The house is the finest known instance of the vernacular dog trot form in Clark County.
The Loy Kirksey House is a historic house in rural Clark County, Arkansas. It is located on the south side of Still Creek Road east of the hamlet of Fendley. This single-story dog trot house was built in stages, beginning with a single log pen that probably predates the American Civil War. Around 1895 this structure was expanded to form the dog-trot by William Kirksey. The only significant alteration since then is the replacement of the original chimney in the mid-20th century with the present brick one. The property also includes two single-story log barns built in the early decades of the 20th century.
The Will Reed Farm House is a historic farmhouse on Main Street in Alleene, Arkansas.
The Casey House is a historic house on the Baxter County Fairgrounds in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Still at its original location when built c. 1858, is a well-preserved local example of a dog trot house, a typical Arkansas pioneer house. It is a rectangular structure made out of two log pens with a breezeway in between. It is finished in clapboard siding on the outside walls, and the breezeway is finished with flushboarding. A porch extends the width of the house front, and is sheltered by the side-gable roof that also covers the house. Colonel Casey, its builder, was one of Mountain Home's first settlers, and its first representative in the Arkansas legislature.
The Jacob Wolf House is a historic house on Arkansas Highway 5 in Norfork, Arkansas. It is a log structure, built in 1825 by Jacob Wolf, the first documented white settler of the area. Architecturally it's a "saddle bag", which is a two-story dog trot with the second floor built over the open breezeway. A two-story porch extends on one facade, with an outside stair giving access to the upper floor rooms. The building's original chinking has been replaced by modern mortaring. It is maintained by the Department of Arkansas Heritage as a historic house museum.
The Carter–Jones House is a historic house locatedt in Yellville, Arkansas.
The Wilhauf House is a historic house at 109 North 3rd Street in Van Buren, Arkansas. Built in 1838 and restyled in 1847, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state. It is a single story log dog trot structure, consisting of two log pens originally joined by a breezeway. The house is sheathed in weatherboard, and has a modest Greek Revival gabled portico. The 1847 alterations included the extension of the gable roof to accommodate additional rooms in the rear, which have been furthered extended by a modern addition. The house was built by Leonard Wilhauf on land he purchased from John Drennan, Van Buren's first proprietor.
The Maguire-Williams House is a historic house at 19105 Arkansas Highway 74 east of Elkins, Arkansas. It is a 1-1/2 story log and frame structure, finished in wooden clapboards, with a side gable roof. The house appears to have been built between about 1838 and 1877, and includes a frame addition to the rear and an open porch extending across the width of its front. The oldest log pen of the structure has been dated by dendrochronology to c. 1838, with a second wood frame pen, in dog trot layout, added c. 1867. It is one of the county's older antebellum buildings.
The Ridge House is a historic house at 230 West Center street in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is owned by the Washington County Historical Society, and is open for tours by appointment.
The Joe Emmer House was a historic house in rural northern White County, Arkansas. It was located on County Road 47, northwest of the Holly Springs Church. It was a single-story single-pen log structure, with a side gable roof and a shed-roof porch across the front. The logs were hand-hewn and joined by dovetailed notches. A frame addition extended the building to the west. The house was built c. 1890, and was one of about thirty such houses remaining in the county.
Cedars Plantation, located along Lake Irwin Road, about 2.4 miles (3.9 km) southwest of Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish in Louisiana, was built in c.1840 and is believed to be the oldest surviving house in the parish. It has also been known as Williams Home Place. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1976.
