Some weeks ago I was driving my son’s car on the interstate and it blew out a tire about 45 minutes from home.
I was able to pull over safely and put on the donut emergency tire, but it effectively ended the trip to Georgia I was taking with three of the children.
Since it wouldn’t be safe to continue on the Interstate with a donut tire, we navigated our way home via a series of back roads a little north of the Florida border.
Somewhere east of Brewton, we came across this beautiful little Cracker house:
It’s a fantastic specimen, and still looks pretty solid. Note the “dogtrot” breezeway right through the center.
Down in Grenada I wanted to build a Cracker House but never managed to pull it off. Of course, it ended up not mattering since we had to move back to the states during the pandemic, but it was something we researched extensively.
This book by Ronald Haase was my main inspiration:
We corresponded by email as well – he is an excellent architect, with some creative additions to the original Cracker design.
However, I prefer the original, two-cottages-connected-by-a-roof design. The simplicity and usefulness of the design in the heat of the Deep South is near perfect.
It may become even more perfect as the economy declines and they take away our fuel, air conditioners, gas stoves, etc.
You start with the “single pen” house in the graphic above, then make a second one with enough spacing for your dogtrot, then put it all under a big, wide roof. The cooler air that comes in through the porches and breezeway keeps the house much more pleasant than a concrete Modernist home.
The architecture matches the environment, unlike most new houses which are built for AC.
It wouldn’t be all that pleasant to live without AC in the heat of summer (it’s nearing 100F today), but it would be better to live in a Cracker House without AC than in a concrete box with windows that barely allow air flow.
One day, I may still build one. It was wonderful getting to see a classic example that was still standing.
10 comments
I’ve always wanted an old Southern home with the attic fan ….
Hi Davd
I am a lady and know nothing about Cracker Houses. This morning I woke up and remembered in the night I had the words “CRACKER HOUSE” on my lips. Weird I know. … ive never even heard of a Cracker House. Would you be willing to chat to me please, and enlighten me on this type of dwelling. I had to SEARCH what it meant, hence me finding this article.
This is the weirdest request I have ever received.
I love the dogtrot style houses!
Hey David, I live here in georgia. One of the guys I work with actually bought a house just like this from a guy and he has the almost the whole history from the family of when it was built in the 1800s I believe. He is restoring it to live in. I’ve had an opportunity to go see it and it is truly amazing. I am hoping to build this style house when I get my own property here.
I would love to see pictures. That is awesome. What a great find, and a cool thing to do.
Thanks for sharing! Good find.
Cross ventilation indeed.I am a huge fan of dogtrot style. A lot of nice older homes here have the modified dogtrot. You know…the wide central hallway with rooms on both sides. Beautiful.
I’ve heard them called shot gun houses as well…. Old designs usually made sense!
I once saw a square timber log cabin with the dog trot space inbetween the 2 living spaces. One thingI would like is temporary wall to enclose the breezeway in winter.
When I was a kid in West Palm Beach Fl my dad took out the attic access board and put a box fan in it. With the fan blowing into the attic the attic heat ran our the side vents. I also rember whe every window had an awning.