Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 - (Page 63)

The Alberry-Wasson Homeplace, circa 1860, located in Summerfield, Claiborne Parish. Fall 2008/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 63 SUSAN ROACH, LOUISIANA REGIONAL FOLKLIFE PROGRAM completion in the fall of 2008. Susan Roach and architect F. Lestar Martin are advising on the project. The Colvin house will then be used as a welcome center to the town of Dubach on U.S. Highway 167. Like the Autreys, the Colvins were farmers. Colvin had the house built in 1883 shortly before his marriage to Mary Idera Lizette Ball. Measuring 34 by 40 feet, it has two rooms on each side of the dogtrot passage and the two larger front rooms have fireplaces. One side of the house was used for bedrooms and the other for cooking and dining. The roof was covered with pine shingles. Although not occupied since the 1960s, sufficient original details survived so that along with the aid of period photographs, the house can be accurately restored. According to Dubach’s mayor, Margaret Rogers, two of the rooms will be furnished as they would have appeared in the 1880s. There has been much speculation on the origins of dogtrots. Perhaps their source lies in the east German farmhouse — a structure consisting of one pen for living separated from the other that was used as a barn or a stable for horses. Because a dogtrot is usually symmetrical — it is rare to find a dogtrot with an off-center passage — some historians have proposed that the house is a vernacular version of the high-style Georgian central-passage house. Others have argued that dogtrots evolved from the log-walled one-room house, which, difficult to add to since the entire weight of a log building rests on its notched corners, was expanded by a separate unit across an open passage. Whatever their origins, dogtrots responded well enough to the available building materials and the climate. For, indeed, a dogtrot was an eminently practical solution to the climate extremes that settlers experienced. Their spaces A dogtrot was an eminently practical solution to the climate extremes that settlers experienced. Their spaces offered considerable flexibility. offered considerable flexibility. In the hot summers, the open passage allowed a sitting or working area that would capture cooling breezes and, like the gallery, could provide a cool place for sleeping outdoors. During the winter, the interior was heated from the fireplace and the attic provided a snug sleeping space. There are several dogtrots that are accessible in Louisiana. Among them is the single-story Thrasher house, circa 1856, now at the Pioneer Heritage Center on the campus of Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Moved here from Bienville Parish and restored, it is constructed of squared logs with dovetail notching and has galleries front and rear. The Sylvest house, circa 1880, relocated to the Washington Parish Fairgrounds in Franklinton, is built from round logs that are saddle-notched at the corners. In Claiborne Parish, approximately one-anda-half miles south of Summerfield, the Alberry-Wasson house, circa 1860, is constructed of half-round logs. Its encompassing pitched roof extends over the front gallery and disguises the unusual second story with its own dogtrot passage. The interior was sheathed in horizontal boards to cover gaps between the logs and give a more refined appearance. Because dogtrots were built in remote and rural areas their survival is always at risk. So those that have survived and have been carefully brought back to their original appearance should more than ever be valued and treasured. Karen Kingsley, Ph.D., is professor emerita of architecture at Tulane University, author of Buildings of Louisiana (2003, Oxford University Press), and a free lance writer. KAREN KINGSLEY The T. Y. Colvin House, circa 1883, is being developed to serve as the Dubach Dogtrot Welcome Center, located in downtown Dubach on Highway 167. The house was originally located on Pea Ridge Road, approximately 7 miles from Dubach. KAREN KINGSLEY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities New Orleans Immortelle The Historic New Orleans Collection Highland-Fairfield: The Historic Heart of Shreveport The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Perils of the Mississippi River Louisiana Foodways Harvest of Life King Oliver: The Forgotten King of Jazz Louisiana Architecture Jazz Notes Louisiana State Museum Eye of the Storm Louisiana Association of Museums Soul Resin Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

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