Tishomingo Dogtrot Log Cabin

Backcountry Notes ^ | August 22, 2010 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

Tishomingo County is a scenic slice of the Backcountry nestled in the Appalachian foothills of far northeast Mississippi. The Butler Dogtrot cabin was built near The Natchez Trace circa 1870 and survives as a fine example of this rustic architecture.

[dixiechick2000]

I’ve never heard the term “dogtrot” until this thread. What’s wrong with east MS?

Frankly, another thing about east MS is that “bless your heart” isn’t a snide comeback. We really mean it!

Lordy...even being born in raised in the same state, our culture is so different.

My grandaddy was raised in a dogtrot, along with 10 brothers and sisters...another died in infancy. My grandaddy was the one who moved to town, and made a success of himself. However, even though he was the fourth child, he was the one who supported the rest of his siblings.

He had two careers. In his first career in business, he retired at 45. He was bored so he started another career at 50, and retired at 65.

He took the social security checks and used them until he figured that they had repaid him, with interest. After that, he gave his ss checks to charity.

He tried to stop the checks, but they kept coming.

[dixiechick2000]

Why...that looks brand new!

You should attend simply because you are the older.

You have much needed and desired information to hand down to your younger kin.

[John S Mosby]

Believe Forrest could have flanked, as he said. And an awful shame to lose Patrick Cleburne. Deo Vindice.

[wardaddy]

I agree...given anywhere near remotely even odds and Forrest always prevailed.

No question, the Federals would have been in deep doo-doo had Forrest been commissioned Bragg’s slot

[wardaddy]

Do you still feel any southern roots in your psyche?

I often wonder about that. I have distant kin like yours who just moved on and ended up on the west coast 100 years ago.

Those of us here still grounded in the south feel it like it’s in our DNA...the specialness of it and the sense of commonality....which is why we bristle as the high and mighty who scorn us...very proud of our disctinctiveness in the American fabric (yes...how Hallmark sounding).

How do those 3-4 generation now removed feel?

just wondering..

[dainbramaged]

That is a good question since I always wanted to be the Confederate when we played “war between the states” as children. My father’s ancestors showed up pretty early in American history, a direct DNA line to a Virginian man in 1646. I spent some time in New Orleans and Mississippi in the 1970’s and felt right at home with the locals - people in the south are so well mannered and friendly they remind me of small town Alaskans (we lived there 25 years).
I guess I always felt a bond with southerners and plan on making an extended trip within a few years.

[wardaddy]

good for you...i was curious

as a boy we had kin in Santa Fe NM and some in Marin area in northern kali

to me as a lad it seemed like the promised land and the west was the future and I would surely live in northern Kali or maybe Montana

then I spent a bulk of my young adulthood between NYC and the tropical third world

now having been back in the South for 14 years, it would feel odd now in middle age to live anywhere else

[dixiechick2000]

What a very interesting exchange between you two.

My family has been in Mississippi since well before it was a state.

I’ve been in Oregon for almost 20 years. I left Mississippi when I was 19 years old, and have lived from CA to NC...and points inbetween...since then.

I have 3 grandchildren who visit Texas and Mississippi only once a year, but the South has rubbed off on them...or maybe it’s their genes.

All of them...even the youngest at 12...love sweet tea, and one knows how to make it properly. For the most part, their taste in food is more Southern.

The biggest surprise for me is that my born and raised Oregonian son-in-law would fit in better in Mississippi than he does out here....food wise, attitude wise, and politically speaking.

And, I was afraid my daughter would marry a long-haired, maggot infested, dope smoking liberal... ;o)

[Bodleian_Girl]

I've been meaning to post these photos for quite some time, but life kept interrupting. I thought some on this ping list might find them interesting.

In this first picture, a classic dogtrot home and family. I believe this was taken somewhere near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, circa 1908. The little boy with blond hair, second left, will be in the next photo as an adult.

In this photo, the little boy from above is the grown man, standing on the back row, far left. Next to him is his wife, who is holding their first grandchild. The young lady, 3rd from left is their oldest daughter. She will be in the next photo.

This home was in Purvis, MS and was also in the dogtrot style. I visited there as a youth. It was later sold, moved, and reassembled with all the modern conveniences.The last I heard, a retired preacher and his wife live there.

And here is the young daughter from the photo above, in her later years. She and her husband had just bought this old mobile home to refurbish, planning to use it as a fish camp.

[Bodleian_Girl]

Mississippi ping to post # 49.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2575451/posts?page=49#49

[Col Freeper]

We moved so much and often every time a pick up truck pulled up in the yard the chickens laid down and crossed their legs.

LOL,

An interesting thread to be sure.

Your comment above caught my eye in particular because we also moved so often I can't even remember most of the places we lived.

And sadly, whenever we moved, my Mother only got to take whatever fit into the back of a pickup truck (and a car trunk whenever we also had a car).

Everything else got left, or dumped.

I don't know how she put up with it. Such instability, while trying to raise 7 kids.

Once, in the 7th grade (in Lodi, California), I rode my bike home from school, and found the house we were renting completely empty, with a sign on the door saying: "We moved, we'll be back to get you."

LOL, As I sat there until dark, I tried to determine whether the many things that I did to get into trouble would be counted against me in the decision whether to return and pick me up (they did come back a little after dark).

Another time, we moved into (well partially moved into), and out of a rental house on the same day (apparently, somebody offered the owner more rental money).

I remember laying on a mattress on the side of the road with my brother, long after dark, watching the stars while we waited for "the pickup" to come back for us and the mattresses.

Ah yes, in life, we are always "making memories", eh?