Today I’m sharing a bit of history and how our home became known as “The Cottage.”
Cottage history
What’s in a name? Why cottage? According to Dale Mulfinger, the author of The Family Cabin, “the difference is location, location location. In the South, Midwest, and West, ‘cabin’ is generally the preferred term for a family get-away. Along the ocean or in the Great Lakes Area, ‘cottage’ prevails. In New England and the Adirondacks, you’ll likely hear ‘camp‘.”
Growing up with my sisters near Lake Michigan (the Great Lakes Area) we always referred to our family get-away (owned by my grandparents) as “the cottage.” Sometimes mom and dad would announce, “we’re going to the lake,” but 99% of the time we would refer to our trip as going to “The Cottage” or being at “The Cottage” which always brought us four girls immense joy.
The cottage we spent weekends away was built by my grandpa in Michigan around 1930 before my dad was born. The property and surrounding properties were remote at that time and there weren’t many other cottages nearby. (today the area is lined with cottages and there are a few new subdivisions nearby. I imagine my grandpa was looking for a good fishing lake when he found the spot for their cabin. He loved to fish. I have so many memories of grandpa heading out to fish, coming back with fish, sitting in his boat on the lake, and cleaning fish. Fishing was an everyday deal. When it was mealtime, Grandma would ring a large bell on the porch to let grandpa know it was time to come in.
Grandpa cleared the land, built the cabin, and even made a beach.
The cottage started out as a brick structure with a small kitchen and dining area, two bedrooms, a seating area, and a small bathroom with a corner shower. Later a large porch for eating outdoors and a separate covered porch that would eventually become a sunroom was added. As often happens with family cottages, there were new additions added to the old as the family grew.
As grandchildren arrived on the scene (my sisters and I) Grandpa added a second story with two very large bedrooms, bringing the total number of bedrooms to three. One bedroom was for my grandparents, and the other bedroom had 2 full-size beds, a roll-away bed, a crib, and a dresser! Mom, Dad, and all us kids slept in that room and it ever felt crowded to me!
A garage was one of the first additions to the cottage and was eventually converted to a multi-purpose room which included a laundry area, a small bathroom with a toilet, and a concrete floor shower. There were cabinets for storage on one wall – and right smack in the middle of the room was a long table with mismatched chairs where our growing family and friends enjoyed meals.
It’s funny the things I remember about meals in that room — grandpa pouring his hot coffee into his saucer to cool it then slurping it (and grandma huffing about it). It seemed there were often guests at the table too, including our Aunt Gerla who was often at the cottage with us. Rhubarb sauce in early summer was a staple on the table – to put on our cottage cheese and it’s where I learned to put potato chips on my lunchmeat sandwiches.
As kids, we didn’t have many toys at the cottage to play with and I don’t ever remember being bored, but we were outside all day! Most of our time was spent in the water other times, the gravel on the road provided a treasure hunt for “gems” (bits of quartz), the sandpile became a bakery where we created all sorts of delicious sand cakes, cookies, and pies. But sometimes, it was the simple fun of swinging on the tree swing (and twisting it to spin). When the time or weather called for indoor activities, we did have the board game “Sorry” decks of cards, and coloring books and crayons to keep us entertained.
This Cottage Life
For decades I missed the cottage of my childhood. Then one day I realized we do have a cottage of our own. A place we can visit without packing a suitcase, or drive a distance, or maintain. Our home on a small knoll surrounded by trees on 2.5 acres with a body of water (pool) is our cottage. “A cottage is, at its most basic level, a place of human bonding, where family and friends gather and make memories*.” Where grandpa scores the growth of grandchildren, the kids swim all day, and sled in the winter, your favorite meal is made on request, and holidays are celebrated. A place to gather and recharge your batteries.
A place to kick back and relax
Take a walk and explore
Take rides on the ATV
a place to hold wedding receptions
And that’s how we came to call our home “The Cottage.” “This Cottage Life” and “My Cottage Life” are the accounts of our life in our suburban cottage.
For decades I missed the cottage that helped me to create happy memories of my childhood and helped to inspire me to create my own cottage and memories for our children and grandchildren. I longed to return to that first cottage and reminisce on those many happy years. Then, several years ago, my family was vacationing in the area and decided to pay the old cottage a visit. Little did we know the amazing series of events that would follow that first visit back.
I’ll share details of that story in my next post! I will tell you, it was wonderful and emotional!
*paraphrased from The Family Cabin, by Dale Mulfinger.