Because The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks spans six generations of Ingledews, detailing the founding, the rise, and the decline of Stay More, its characters tend to be less complex than those in other Harington novels. The novel's emphasis on humor accounts for some of this simplicity of character.

Given the duality implicit in the theme of bigeminality, the novel has two major characters, although not a man and a woman, as one might expect.

The novel's first major character is Jacob Ingledew, who is, like all Ingledew men, shy and taciturn in the presence of women. Yet, he is the first Ingledew in Stay More to marry. Their shyness is so acute that only one Ingledew male in each generation, except the last, will marry. As founder, Jacob performs many "firsts," including being the first to perform almost all of the activities associated with Ozark folk tradition...