The log houses were built of peeled or “skunt” logs of native longleaf
pine, called “lightered,” “yellow,” “heart” or “long-strawed” pine. The
settler selected trees with straight smooth trunks approximately the
same size. The trees were felled, cut into the correct length, and
peeled. They were hauled to the building site with ox or mule teams. The
foundation blocks were usually vertical sections of large heart pine
logs (Fig. 13), although some houses used native iron rock as foundation
stones (Fig. 14). These foundations held the sills of the house a foot
or two off the ground so that the light and air under the house
protected it from dampness and “wood lice” or termites. In some cases,
the sills were laid directly on the earth. The sills of the Wiley
McNeill house, Clarke County, laid on the ground around 1830, today show
little sign of rotting or termite damage. The resin in heart pine acts
as a natural preservative, making the wood almost indestructible.
Some of the houses were built with whole peeled logs (Fig. 4); others
with split logs (Fig. 5) and still others with square-hewn logs
(Fig. 6). The logs were notched or “scribed” at the corners to fit
securely and steadily. The style of the notch varied with the cultural
background, skill or preference of the builder. Saddle notching,
V-notching, Half-dovetailing, Square cornering, Halved cornering and a
saddle-V combination are found in the Piney Woods (Figs. 7-12). Of
these, the half-dovetail is the most difficult to produce. It is self
locking, as is the Saddle and V-notch, while the Square and Half-Square
require the use of pegs to hold the timber in place.
The spaces between the logs were either chinked with clay and moss or
battened with split pine pickets. The log houses left standing today in
the Piney Woods are generally battened inside and out with pine boards.
Exacting builders squared off the corners, but usually logs were left to
extend beyond the notches. The floor joists rested on the sills and were
fitted to make an even base for the floor of wide hand-planed pine
boards. Many of the earlier houses had clay floors, but no house was
found still retaining the dirt floor.
The ceiling, made of wide rough-hewn board, was attached to ceiling
joists, providing a loft space in many of the houses. Small ladder-like
stairs led through a hole in the ceiling to the loft, which was
sometimes used for sleeping quarters or for storage of seeds, herbs,
nuts, and gourds, (Fig. 17).
The rafters were made of small, peeled pine poles. Pine planks nailed to
the rafters formed the base of the shingle roof. Straight grained pine
trees were selected for roof shingles. The tree was cut into blocks
eighteen to twenty inches long and split into “bolts.” A froe and maul
were used to rive out the boards to a half-inch thickness and the roof
was covered with the boards overlapping (Fig. 18). In the Piney Woods,
such shingle roofs were called “board” roofs. Today most have been
replaced by tin or masonite. The overhang of the roof provided about
eight feet front and rear for porches.
Each pen usually had a window on both sides of the fireplace, cut into
the wall after the log pen was built. There were no window panels in the
early houses, but thick shutters made of hand-planed pine boards (Fig.
19).
Each pen had a fireplace. The early chimneys were “catted,” made of
“stick and mud,” and built on a foundation of native rocks, such as sand
or iron rocks. The chimney was framed up with carefully laid pieces of
oak strips. Prairie grass or sage was mixed with water and clay and
thrown over each rung of the framing. The log grass overlapped each
rung, filling the spaces. After the entire frame was covered, it was
dressed down with mud. When the clay hardened, the chimney was ready for
fire. Fireplaces were fitted with a bar and hooks to hold vessels for
heating water and cooking. These inflammable stick-and-mud chimneys and
fireplaces were replaced with bricks after kilns began operating (Fig.
16).
As a house grew, usually a kitchen was built behind and away from the
house as a protection against fire. It was connected to the house by a
board walkway either covered or uncovered (Fig. 20). It is rare today to
find the detached kitchen still standing for most house owners, with
access to electricity, tore down the kitchen wing and made a kitchen
shed from a portion of the back porch. In the 20th century, outdoor
toilets gave way to modern plumbing in shed rooms.
Before “running water” was available, it was considered a great
convenience to have an additional well in the house. These wells were
usually on a front porch and had a narrow cylinder for drawing water
(Fig. 15).
The Ainsworth house in Simpson County, the Purvis house in Rankin
County, and the Sullivan house in Smith County are well-preserved log
dogtrots.
Jonathan Ainsworth built his log house on the Florence-Harrisville road
in north Simpson County between 1860-1870 (Fig. 21). Gertie Ainsworth,
present owner and granddaughter of Jonathan, was born in the house as
was her father, Charles Houston Ainsworth.
Made of squared split-logs approximately 14 inches in diameter, the
house was built in stages, following the typical pattern of progression.
The 24-foot square north pen was constructed first with square notching.
An identical pen was added a few years later, leaving a passageway
between, with the whole house roofed over to provide a front and back
porch. Soon afterwards, a kitchen and dining room, each about twelve
feet square, were built off the rear of the house. In 1937, these
structures were torn down and the north pen again became the kitchen and
the south portion of the back porch was walled up as a bedroom. Later,
with the arrival of electricity, the north back porch was walled up for
a kitchen. None of the outbuildings are the original ones. The present
corn crib was built in 1911; the “car house” in 1925; the barn in 1935.
Miss Ainsworth remembers fruit houses, which were built of small logs
and daubed with mud. The house does not have plumbing and Miss Ainsworth
still draws her water from the well conveniently placed on the front
porch.
The Purvis house stands in the Walters Community in southeast Rankin
County (Fig. 22). William Jackson Purvis began building the house prior
to 1880. The fourth generation of his family now lives there.
Although both rooms have been ceiled and paneled in recent years and the
south fireplace removed, the basic exterior remains unchanged.
The original pen was built on the east side of present-day Highway 43
and moved to the west side around 1882. The code for reassembling the
pen can still be seen carved in the logs.
The north pen was added some twenty years later. The split-logs of pine
are put together with V-notching. An unusual feature is a storm-pit
built under the north pen with an entrance through an opening in the
floor.
In 1905 when the first son married, the north portion of the front porch
was walled off for the newly-weds. In the 1970s the north rear porch was
walled off as a kitchen and the south rear porch as a bathroom. The
house now has both electricity and plumbing.
A functioning farm until recently, the out-buildings include a smoke
house, cow barn, mule barn, blacksmith shop, seed house, chicken house,
and tool shed. The blacksmith shop still contains the old bellows and a
handmade grinding tool. The tool shed holds hand-carved mule hames, a
hand-pegged rake, and other garden tools.
Tom Sullivan built his one-room cabin of square-hewn logs in Choctaw
Indian country. The area later became known as Sullivan’s Hollow, Smith
County. The original log cabin was built 1810-1820 when Sullivan
migrated from Georgia, and his descendants have lived in it ever since.
A double-pen was added later using split logs instead of the original
square-hewn. Three shed rooms have been added over the years, the last
one for a bathroom in 1965 (Fig. 24).
Interior walls are battened with pine boards and the ceiling is made of
“sawed” boards. The mud-and-stick chimneys on each end were replaced by
brick chimneys in 1915. The dogtrot passageway is usually closed up in
the winter months with plastic panels. The house is occupied today by
Shep Sullivan, a sixth generation descendant of the builder.