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 John Herbert House, also known as Breezeway, is a property in Franklin, Tennessee, United States, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. A 1988 study of historic resources in Williamson County identified the Herbert house as one of the "best examples", along with the Beasley-Parham House, of double pen dogtrot houses in the county: "Both houses were built with two log pens joined by an open breezeway or dogtrot and each pen has an exterior chimney. Both residences had the breezeways enclosed with weatherboard siding by the end of the 19th century. The original form and plan of the double pen dogtrot style is evident in both residences."
The Hester-Lenz House is a historic house at 905 AR 5 N in Benton, Arkansas. Built in 1836 on what was then the Southwest Trail or the Military Road, it may be the oldest surviving house in Saline County that remains in its original location, and it may have been the location of a vote for independence of the state of Arkansas. The original construction, a two-story log dogtrot believed to have been built about 1836–37, was modified in the late 19th century by German immigrants with their distinctive vernacular styling.
The Champ Grubbs House is a historic antebellum dog trot log cabin in rural Drew County, Arkansas. It is located on Ozment Bluff Road, west of Arkansas Highway 172 and southwest of the county seat of Monticello. The single story log structure is estimated to have been built in 1859, and is one of the few such surviving buildings in the county. It was originally built to a typical dogtrot plan, although separate shed roof rooms were added to its rear in the 19th century, though these were removed and replaced with a similar addition in the 1980s. The center of the dog trot has been enclosed, and is accessed via a door from the front. The eastern log bay also functions as an entry, while that on the west side has been converted to a window. In much of the interior the log finish has been covered by paneling.
The Ozmer House is a historic house on the Southern Arkansas University farm on the north side of Magnolia, Arkansas. It is a single-story dogtrot house that was built in 1883 and moved to its present location by the school. It was originally located about two miles northeast of Magnolia's courthouse square, and is now located northeast of the main farm complex, adjacent to a small pond. The dogtrot is extremely well-preserved, both in its interior and exterior features.
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 Arnold Springs Farmstead is a historic farmstead on Jennings Lane on the northwest edge of Melbourne, Arkansas. The farmhouse on the 5-acre (2.0 ha) property is a log structure clad in weatherboard whose construction has been dated to the mid-1850s. It was originally built as a dogtrot, which was enclosed in the late 19th century. The exterior of the house has vernacular Greek Revival styling, also applied in the late 19th century. The property also includes a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century agricultural outbuildings, as well as an early stone wall and bridge. Sited near a locally significant fresh-water spring, the site served as a tavern and traveler's rest stop for many years.
The Looney–French House is a historic house at 1325 Deer Run Trail in Dalton, Arkansas. Built c. 1833, this 1+1⁄2-story dogtrot house is one of the oldest standing buildings in Arkansas. Its builder, William Looney, was one of the first white settlers of the area, arriving in 1802. The house has two unequally-sized log pens, with the breezeway between now enclosed. The house is finished with a gable roof and weatherboard siding, and is mounted on a 20th-century concrete foundation. Each pen has a chimney made from stone cut from the nearby banks of the Eleven Point River.
The Dudley Snow House is a historic residence in Oxford, Alabama. The house was built around 1832, soon after the Treaty of Cusseta and Muscogee removal in East Alabama. Brothers Dudley and Fielding Snow, born in North Carolina, came to Alabama from East Tennessee to found a farmstead. Dudley Snow built a one-and-a-half-story dogtrot house as the center of a complex that, by the mid-19th century, included a smokehouse, three barns, a cottonseed oil house, a cotton gin, grist mill, tannery, blacksmith shop, and slave quarters. Snow was a small-scale slaveholder, placing him in a class between a large planter and small farmer or sharecropper. The house was renovated in the 1960s, and was moved in the 1990s from the original address at 704 Snow Street to the actual location of Peek Drive, just across the Talladega County line, to make way for the expansion of Quintard Mall.
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 Joe Brown House and Farmstead is a historic property in rural White County, Arkansas. It is located about one mile south of the end of County Road 529, and about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the hamlet of Little Red as the crow flies. It is a single-story dogtrot house, with a corrugated metal roof and board-and-batten siding. The front facade has a shed-roof porch extending across part of the front, sheltering two entrances giving access to the two pens and the breezeway. The property includes a well and the remains of a log smokehouse. The house was built about 1890, and is one of White County's few surviving 19th-century dogtrots.
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 a 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 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-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 Samuel D. Byrd Sr. Homestead is a historic farmstead at 15966 United States Route 270, near Poyen, Arkansas. The main house of the farmstead is a single story dogtrot structure, with one log pen built in 1848, and a second pen built out of pine planking in 1850, with a gabled roof covering both pens and the breezeway between. The building has been added to several times, and some of its porches enclosed, to accommodate large families. It was occupied by members of the Byrd family until 2000, and is one of the county's oldest surviving structures.
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 William Henry Watson Homestead was a historic house on White County Route 68 in Denmark, Arkansas. It was a single story wood frame dogtrot house, with a side gable roof, weatherboard siding, and a foundation of stone piers. Originally built with a single pen about 1890, it was extended at some period.
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 William Tichenor House, near Upton, Kentucky, is a historic house built around 1820. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
