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 Today most have been replaced by tin or masonite.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.