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The oldest building in the village, the Martin House was originally constructed of logs, hand hewn by slaves, in about 1830. The structure, a dog-trot two-story home with a two-story porch, was brought log by log from northwest of Jasper, Newton County, Arkansas, near what is now the Buffalo National River. It is one of the oldest buildings remaining in the Ozarks. Wonder why it’s called a "dog-trot" house? The breezeway between the two sections of the house, called "pens," was the coolest place to be on a hot summer day; and that’s where the dogs lay down to keep cool in the shade.) Moving the building to the village presented quite a problem. When it was discovered, it was four and a half miles from the nearest logging road. The logs were numbered and the house taken apart, log by log, and put on a skid. The logs were pulled to the logging road, transferred to a wagon, moved to a county road and finally to a paved state highway and brought to the Village. There were no relics in the house when it was found – it had not been lived in for many years. Historically, the house is significant because Herbert Hoover stayed in this home for about three weeks in 1893. At the time, he was employed as a surveyor for the United States Land Office and had graduated from Stanford University. Ozark villages of the time didn’t have motels or inns, so strangers had to stay in private homes, much like bed and breakfast facilities today.
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