Overton Farm, Historic wooden farmhouse in Hodges, Alabama.
Overton Farm is a historic wooden house in Hodges, Alabama, built in the early 19th century with a simple but functional design. The structure features two main rooms connected by an open breezeway, a layout that provided natural ventilation and workspace for daily activities.
Abner Overton, a traveling tobacco merchant from Raleigh, North Carolina, bought 160 acres in a bend of Bear Creek in 1817 and built a one-room log cabin in 1819, adding rooms until the house had five. The Overton family ran the farm until 1946. The Tennessee Valley Authority bought it in 1969 as land affected by the construction of Bear Creek Dam, and Northwest Alabama State Junior College restored it in the 1970s.
The name "dogtrot" comes from the open central breezeway between the two remaining rooms, which also served as a shaded work area. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and the farm is associated with Abner Overton, a tobacco merchant from Raleigh, North Carolina.
The house stands near Hodges in a bend of Bear Creek, on land the Tennessee Valley Authority acquired for the Bear Creek Dam project. Only two rooms remain, joined by a dogtrot breezeway, and the west room's stone gable chimney is gone. The site was restored in the 1970s and served as an educational center until 2013, so check current access before setting out.
The site served as an educational resource for a state junior college starting in the 1970s, giving it a surprising second life in modern times. This later use shows how places from earlier centuries can be adapted to serve new generations with different purposes.
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