The House That Came From The Mill

I grew up in a shotgun house in Nettleton, Arkansas that my Grandfather built. My Grandfather was William Oscar Dudley, February 28, 1886 to February 17, 1963. He was Co-owner of the Dudley & Allen Sawmill in Nettleton in the 1930's and 40's. One thing sbout the Sawmill is up to now the only record I can find linking my Grandfather to a Sawmill is in the 1950's census. where they list him as proprietor of saw mill. When he built the house we eventually moved into, he didn't build it like they build houses now. He built it with slabs of wood right out of his saw mill. The slabs were about 2 inches thick and 10 to 14 inches wide. They were put up right next to each other to form the walls. He used square headed nails. It formed a box house. The walls were solid wood. This house was different than the other shotgun houses built-in Nettleton. Most were the length of the lot .This one was the width of the lot. It was the only one he built like that. He wanted to cut cost. So the ceilings were only 6 and a 1/2 feet. Normally they would have been at least 10 to 15 feet. On the outside, it was covered in a siding that looked like what they put on roofs. It had a gritty sandy texture and a stone pattern on it. i just learned it was called insulbrick or asphalt roll siding. A lot of houses in Nettleton, had it after the war. It was roofing, sold for walls and it meant you didn't have to paint. He later added an edition across the back of the house. Which included bathroom and a bedroom. It had a well in the back of the house with an electric pump so we had well water. My Grandfather told them we could live in the house, if we moved back south, It was a strong house. It went through the tornado that took off the roof of the duplex beside us and the house behind us and destroyed Nettleton's school which was less than 2 blocks from our house. Daddy said it was because it was built with solid oak and square headed nails. I say it was because the porch post broke the front window and let the pressure out the house. He never did replace the siding. If part of it came off, he just patched it with black tar paper. When I left the house at 18, it still looked the same as when we moved in when I was 4. The house stood until my dad passed away. My sister sold it to the school. They dug a hole and pushed it in and buried it. It's a parking lot now for the school. But it's still there, just not above the surface.