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.
Blakely House is a dogtrot house located on Arkansas Highway 84 in Social Hill, Arkansas. Greenberry Blakely, one of the first settlers of Hot Spring County, built the house in 1874. The two-room log house is representative of Arkansas homes at the time, as dogtrot houses were popular in the state during the late 1800s. In 1875, Blakely married Martha Ingersell; the couple lived in the home with their two children, Greenberry's mother, and Martha's sister. Blakely placed an addition on the house in 1890 to accommodate his growing family, and in 1890 Blakely sided the home with clapboard. Blakely inhabited the house until his death in 1935.
Noel Owen Neal House, also known as Grace Fisher House, built in 1840, is a historic squared-log dogtrot house in Washington, Arkansas. Originally located at 184 Blue Bayou Road South in Nashville, Arkansas, it had been listed National Register of Historic Places. The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas listed it as one of its Most Endangered Places in 2005.
The W. H. Allen House is a historic house in rural Columbia County, Arkansas. It is a single-story house whose main block is a four-room dogtrot house built in 1873 by one of the area's first American settlers, Walter Howard Allen. This main block measures 28 feet (8.5 m) in depth and 42 feet (13 m) in width, and was built from logs hauled to the site from Camden. The house was enlarged by Allen's son in 1907, and has been little altered since. The road it is located on was once the main road between Magnolia and El Dorado.
The William H. Smith House is a historic house in the small community of Atlanta, Arkansas. It is located northeast of the junction of Arkansas Highway 98 and County Road 85. It is a single-story wood frame structure in the shape of an L. It was originally built c. 1857 as a dogtrot house, but the dogtrot has since been enclosed. The main body of the house is clad in weatherboard, while the enclosed dogtrot is flushboarded, with a porch in the rear and a projecting gable-roofed entry in the front. The entry is particularly elaborate for surviving period Greek Revival buildings, with both sidelight and transom windows. It is the only surviving antebellum house in the small town.
The Old Alexander House is a historic house on the campus of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas. Originally built in rural Columbia County in 1855 by Samuel Alexander, this single-story dogtrot house is one of the oldest buildings in the county, and one of its few surviving antebellum structures.
The Bonds House is a historic farmstead complex in rural southwestern Stone County, Arkansas. It is located southwest of Fox, northeast of the junction of county roads 2 and 4. The main house is a single-story dogtrot house, with two pens flanking a breezeway under the gable roof. A shed-roof porch extends across the front facade. The house is finished with horizontal planking under the porch, and weatherboard elsewhere. The breezeway has been enclosed, but the original stairs giving access to the attic space has been retained. The property includes two historic outbuildings, as well as several more modern structures, and a stretch of period road. The house was built about 1900, and is one of Stone County's best-preserved dogtrots. It was built by Joe Moody, who grew up in the area, but was owned for many years by the Bonds family.
The Samuel Brown House is a historic house in West Richwoods, Arkansas. Located down a long lane south of Arkansas Highway 9, it is a single-story log dogtrot house, with its two pens separated by an open breezeway. Its gable roof extends over the front (western) facade to create a porch, supported by chamfered wooden posts. The house is believed to retain its original weatherboard siding. A period smokehouse stands just south of the main house. The house was built in 1848 by Samuel Brown, who moved to Arkansas from North Carolina in 1840, and was progressively refined by him over the following decades as his financial condition improved.
The Wesley Copeland House is a historic house in rural western Stone County, Arkansas. Located on the north side of a rural road south of Timbo, it is single-story dogtrot log house, finished in weatherboard and topped by a gable roof that overhangs the front porch. The porch is supported by chamfered square posts, and there is a decorative sawtooth element at its cornice. There are two chimneys, one a hewn stone structure at the western end, and a cut stone structure at the eastern end. Built c. 1858, it is a rare antebellum house in the county, and a well-preserved example of traditional architecture.
The H.J. Doughtery House is a historic house on the west side of Arkansas Highway 14 in Marcella, Arkansas. Set relatively close to the road, it is a single-story wood frame dogtrot house, with a gable roof and an shed-roofed front porch extending across the east-facing front facade. It is clad in weatherboard and rests on stone piers. A fieldstone chimney rises at the northern end. Built about 1905, this house shows the evolution of the dogtrot, by the regular enclosure of its central breezeway, to something more closely resembling a center-hall plan house.
The Zachariah Ford House is a historic house in rural eastern Stone County, Arkansas. It is located northeast of Pleasant Grove, off County Road 46, on the bluffs overlooking the flood plain of the White River. It is a single-story dogtrot log structure, finished with weatherboard siding and a gable roof that extends over its front porch. It rests on stone piers, and is oriented on a north-south axis. The older of the building's two pens was built about 1856 by Zachariah Ford, and the second pen, breezeway, and roof were built by his son George. The building provides an excellent window into the early evolution of this housing form.
The Benjamin Franklin Henley House is a historic house in rural Searcy County, Arkansas. It is located northeast of St. Joe, on the south side of a side road off Arkansas Highway 374. It is a single-story wood frame dogtrot house, with a projecting gable-roofed portico in front of the original breezeway area. The house was built in stages, the first being a braced-frame half structure in about 1870, and the second room, completing the dogtrot, in 1876.
The Binks Hess House and Barn are a historic farm property in Marcella, Arkansas. Located just east of Arkansas Highway 14 on Partee Drive, it is a 1-1/2 story dogtrot house, with a side gable roof, weatherboard siding, and a stone pier foundation. A single-story porch, supported by square posts, stands in front of the open breezeway section, which is finished in flushboarding, at the center of the east-facing main facade. An ell extends to the rear. Behind the house stands the barn, built on a transverse crib plan with side shed-roof additions. Both house and barn were built about 1871 for Binks Hess, brother of Marcella's founder Thomas. The barn is believed to be the oldest in Stone County, and the first to use sawn lumber in its construction.
The Wyatt House is a historic house at Gainer Ferry Road and Arkansas Highway 25 in Desha, Arkansas. It is a two-story I-house, three bays wide, with a side gable roof, end chimneys, and a single-story ell extending to the rear. The oldest portion of the house, its first floor, was built about 1870 as a dogtrot. In about 1900, the breezeway of the dogtrot was enclosed, and the second story and ell were added. The property also includes a stone wellhouse dating to the enlargement. The house was built by Samuel Wyatt, a veteran of the American Civil War.
The Gray House was a historic house in rural White County, Arkansas. It was located north of Crosby and northwest of Searcy, near the junction of County Roads 758 and 46. It was a single-story wood-frame dogtrot house, with a gable roof and an integral rear ell. The east-facing front was a hip-roofed porch extending across its width, supported by square posts. The house was built c. 1875, and was one of the least-altered examples of this form in the county.
The Gray-Kincaid House is a historic house in rural White County, Arkansas. It is located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) southeast of the junction of County Roads 46 and 759, northeast of the small community of Crosby and northwest of Searcy. It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a side gable roof and board and batten siding. A shed-roof extension extends across the southern facade, while the principal (north-facing) facade has an entry near its center and four sash windows. A stone chimney rises from the eastern end. The house was built as a traditional dogtrot in about 1910, with an attached rear ell, but the latter was destroyed in a storm in the 1940s, and the dogtrot breezeway has been enclosed, transforming the house into center-hall plan structure.
The Reeves-Melson House is a historic house in rural Montgomery County, Arkansas. It is a private inholding within Ouachita National Forest, located on the east side of Miles Road, north of Bonnerdale and east of Alamo. It is a single story dogtrot, with a log pen and a wooden frame pen separated by a breezeway under a gable roof. A shed-roof porch extends across the front, and the building is clad in weatherboard. The log pen has a trapdoor providing access to a dugout cellar, a feature not typically found in regional dogtrot houses. The log pen was built in 1882 by William Reeves, and the frame pen was built in 1888 by Larkin Melson.
The Scott-Davis House is a historic house in rural White County, Arkansas. It is located south of the small community of Romance, on the south side of Blackjack Mountain Road, west of its junction with Wayne Walker Road. In appearance it is a 1-1/2 story double pile structure, with a gabled and hipped roof, and a brick foundation. At its core is a dogtrot built out of logs c. 1869, which was extended to achieve its present appearance in 1905.
The Mitchell House is a historic house in rural Yell County, Arkansas. It is located on the north side of Arkansas Highway 80, east of the Waltreak Methodist Church, in a northeastern finger of the Ouachita National Forest. The house is a single-story dogtrot structure, with a gable roof and a cross-gabled rear kitchen ell. The central breezeway has been enclosed, and houses the building entrance, which is sheltered by a shed-roof porch artfully decorated with vernacular woodwork. Built in 1891, it is one of the few 19th-century buildings surviving in the area, and is a well-preserved and unusual example of the dogtrot form.
The Dr. Stephen N. Chism House is a historic house in rural Logan County, Arkansas. It is located north of Booneville, on the east side of Arkansas Highway 23 about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of its junction with Arkansas Highway 217. It is a two-story log dogtrot house, with two log pens flanking an open breezeway, with a gable roof for cover. Built about 1844-45, it is believed to be the oldest log building in the county. Log Builder Paul Glidewell completed the complete restoration of the house in late 2013.
