The Fabulous "Dogtrot" House!

I don't know about you, but finding an old "dogtrot" house in the middle of nowhere in the western U.S., in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, near the Grand Tetons, was awesome! Now, you might think, why in the world would someone get excited about seeing this? Blame it on genealogy! A "dogtrot" house, or double house or double pen, is basically two single-room or "single pens" house with a central hallway or breezeway between the two pens with a single roof over all of them. ^[1] One room was generally the sleeping quarters, and the other room was the kitchen. Later, the hallway could be fully enclosed and protected from the elements, but screened doors at the front and back still continued the flow of air. If you are from the South, you are probably already familiar with this type of home but generally see it with front porches attached as well.

The trot, generally called a "hall," had many uses besides letting dogs and animals lounge during the day and night to escape heat or rain. It functioned like a wind tunnel, drawing cooler air inside the hall and through the open interior doors and windows. Tables could also be set up for dining and hosting. It was also used as a barrier to keep smells and heat from the sleeping quarters.

As it turns out, my own family has a dogtrot story of its own. At our family reunions, we heard many stories of my great-grandfather, George Allen Perkins, and the "dogtrot" house he built for his bride, Susan Camilla Simmons, in the pine forests of Louisiana. He hauled in one pen first, and the second one came later. By 1916, the house had held ten children. Sadly, one of them lived less than two months. Over the years, more additions followed, including a room built later for his mother. The house was renovated with modern conveniences in the 1950s, and again in the 1990s. A grandson of George and Camilla Perkins still lives there today.

So, if you are traveling around the U.S. today, either in the South or even in the western states, be sure and look for these types of houses. Because it looks like the people who built this "dogtrot" house in Wyoming probably had roots in the South!

1. Auburn University, Folk Buildings, Encyclopedia of Alabama (https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/folk-buildings/ : accessed 8 August 2026).↩︎