Arkansas Backstories

Dogtrot

By Joe David Rice

Those readers expecting details on a new line dance may be surprised to learn that the term “dogtrot” refers to a classic architectural style of the South. It’s usually associated with poor white culture, be it in the mountains or the Delta lowlands.

Dogtrot houses were almost always built in phases. The first “pen” – or a small structure of four log walls fastened together with notched corners – provided a very rudimentary home. Requiring only basic tools, the single pen was quick and simple to construct. Given its compact dimensions, the pen encouraged the use of short logs, which were plentiful and fairly easy to maneuver into place. With a door, a fireplace occupying most of one wall, makeshift windows and either roughly dressed timbers or bare dirt for a floor, it was, at best, a primitive but functional shelter.

As the family’s needs grew, the settler added another pen anywhere from six to twelve feet apart from the first and then connected them with a common roof. In most double-pen houses, one end provided sleeping accommodations, and the other served kitchen and dining activities. The family’s canine pet often graced the open space between the two pens, giving the style its name “dogtrot.”

Although the dogtrot is a distinctly American product, architectural historians disagree on its antecedent. Some claim Swedes and Finns introduced it to the continent, others insist that German immigrants brought the technique with them, and a third theory suggests a relationship with double-pen houses from Africa. Regardless of its provenance, the Southern dogtrot illustrates the ingenuity of pioneers who had limited materials, even less money and no formal architectural training.

Contemporary architects have made some fascinating discoveries about advantages of the fundamental dogtrot design. Despite its rustic, homespun appearance, the traditional dogtrot is particularly well adapted to the Southern climate, with its wide porches and open breezeway providing passive ventilation – which is really no big surprise. But researchers at Mississippi State University have found that moving air is subjected to a pressure differential as it interacts with the dogtrot structure. As a result, wind velocities within the breezeway are substantially higher than those on the exterior. In fact, the average wind speeds inside the breezeway are over one and a half times greater than the outside winds. While our pioneer forefathers may have lacked formal training, they knew what they were doing!

Much like swinging bridges, grist mills and ferries, dogtrots are disappearing from the Arkansas scene. But with a bit of research and some time Dogtrot House, Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in Washington County, Arkansas. Photo by Dan Davis.

on the road, the curious can still inspect these architectural relics. There’s a wonderful example of a dogtrot home in downtown Little Rock at the Historic Arkansas Museum. Known as the Plum Bayou House and dating from the 1830s, it was built with logs from ancient cypress trees. Other restored dogtrot houses can be found at the Scott Plantation Settlement a few miles east of Little Rock, the Grant County Museum in Sheridan and Arkansas Post Museum near Gillett.

My personal favorite dogtrot is the Wolf House at Norfork. Built in 1829, this imposing, two-story building overlooks the junction of the White and North Fork rivers. The oldest public structure in Arkansas, it was erected by Major Jacob Wolf to serve as a courthouse with the courtroom occupying the top floor and offices in the lower level. Fully restored about a decade ago, it could be – according to writer Donald Harrington – “a visual symbol for the whole state.”

Given its sheer size, the Wolf House isn’t a typical example of a dogtrot structure. The downstairs pens are each 18 feet square, separated by a 12-foot dogtrot. The builders used precise dovetail joints – and that’s a chief reason the building still stands nearly two centuries after its original construction.

Unpainted, unsophisticated, often uncomfortable and certainly unpretentious, dogtrots remind us of the challenges our ancestors faced – and their resourcefulness in overcoming them. Check one out when you get the chance.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of Arkansas Parks and Tourism, has written Arkansas Backstories, a delightful book of short stories from A through Z that introduces readers to the state's lesser-known aspects. Rice's goal is to help readers acknowledge that Arkansas is a unique and fascinating combination of land and people – one to be proud of and one certainly worth sharing.

Each month, AY will share one of the 165 distinctive essays. We hope these stories will give you a new appreciation for this geographically compact but delightfully complex place we call home. These Arkansas Backstories columns appear courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. The essays have been collected and published by Butler Center Books in a two-volume set, both of which are now available to purchase at Amazon and the University of Arkansas Press.