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.