Georgia

Henry Lane Log Dogtrot, Oglethorpe, Georgia (33.829074, -83.219880)

Primary Log House          Felling Dates: Winter 1818/19

Alterations to the Roof         Felling Dates: Winter 1829/30

Individual sample 1725-1829 (yellow pine) bwga3 (t = 5.79 MGGAx1; 5.02 NCC9; 4.76 NC017).

Individual sample 1730-1818 (yellow pine) bwga6 (t = 6.22 CHGAx1; 5.90 GEORGIA2; 5.59 CHH25).

Description courtesy of Mark Reinberger: The Henry Lane Log Dogtrot is now owned by Mike Bracewell of Morgan County, who moved it to Oglethorpe County in 1980. In 1808 Henry Lane bought the land upon which it was originally built in Morgan County from Lewis Brantley. Henry Lane was an orphan from Oglethorpe County, though his family came from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He left Morgan County in 1836.The house has square notches, unusual in the Georgia Piedmont. Although easy to make, such notches have no locking ability, so must be pegged at the corners. Logs were hand-hewn, as were the sills, and it appears that the house was always clapboarded. The joists were pit-sawn, the rafters straight-sawn, and most of the nails cut except for those attaching the floorboards, which were wrought. The house, which faced south, consisted of two rooms, both 16 feet square. The room on the original east end was probably the kitchen, as it had a very large stone fireplace with massive jambs and lintel. The room on the west end was probably more formal, as it had a smaller brick fireplace and the joists were beaded on the lower edges, as were those in the center trot. Both rooms had staircases to second-floor chambers, which were separate above.

Dendrochronological analysis has shown that amongst the logs used to construct the walls of the dogtrot was one with complete sapwood that provided a felling date of the winter of 1818/19, while one of the studs from the second-floor roof structure retained complete sapwood that provided a felling date of the winter of 1829/30; the two different dates suggest that the stud was possibly part of a later alteration to the roof.

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2025 “The Tree-Ring Dating of the Henry Lane Log Dogtrot, Oglethorpe, Georgia (Moved from Morgan County, Georgia)” Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory Report 2025/25

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