Cottage Community

[Carrie]

I heard of pocket communities with cottages popping up in certain areas. It seems like a nice way to cut down your footprint and the community is quaint and charming, and the neighbors are extremely close. Would you live in one of these communities?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LACIQfye6DY

[shabbychick]

Well, I'd live in one, but I wouldn't pay the $700,000 for it that these folks paid. To build something very small and then charge people as much for it as they'd pay for a larger house just doesn't seem right to me. It's not like these homes have a lot of other energy-efficient upgrades like solar panels or anything. I think they're awfully cute, but people buy small houses in part (especially here in the Seattle area where these cottages are) because they can't afford the bigger homes. To build something that ought to be affordable housing and then price regular people out of the market just seems like highway robbery to me. That said, I'd probably enjoy a pocket community even though my natural misanthropy really makes me desire a home on lots of land far from any other people.

[ChapterTwo]

Thanks for showing us that, Carrie!

I like the cottage housing idea, of course, but not the pricetag. Plus, I would not want to live on top of each other like that...might as well be in a brownstone in NYC (the only plus is the garden area.)

[allen820]

We live in such a community, albeit one built in 1933! Preparing (hoping!) for retirement, my wife and I moved into a renovated 1933 cottage (we were the second owners!). We have really enjoyed the "Mayberry" lifestyle from walking in the morning to get our mail (no, we don't have front door mail delivery) to buying groceries at the local Mom and Pop's grocery store. Yesterday, we spent most of the day digging in our future raised bed garden, and we had neighbors stop by all day to chat, check our progress, etc.

To see what I am talking about, visit <allthingscottage.com> . Click on "Cottage Living," and scroll down to "cottage renovations." The article entitled something like "Restoring a Historic Community One Cottage at a Time," is the article about this community. Heck our bathroom --the terra cotta one -- is shown in the article, as well as a lot of other neat cottage pics.

Allen

[Heather]

Hi Allen - I went to the website but I can't find where I click on Cottage Living... anybody else found it?

[Heather]

Oh, it's under 'Cottage Style'.

[ChapterTwo]

Interesting, Allen! My friend and I often talk about "running away to Mayberry" as a metaphor for getting away from the rat race. ;)

I'll take a look at that site - I always enjoy looking at all things cottage! Tnx.

[Carrie]

Thanks for sharing Allen. Lovely bathroom. I like the color. I live in a community too, so it wouldn't be too different. Was the price tag resonable? Do you have othe pictures?

[Carrie]

$700,00 dollars would be a little steep for me too. I wondered about taking the modular house route to buying a cottage, but I saved money doing it and in a few years I can make it a modular cottage by the lake. Something to look forward to when I retire.

[allen820]

Hi, Carrie. The cost of our house was way less than half of the houses in your video -- and we have room in back for gardens, veggies and otherwise, and a large "commons" in front.

As for photos -- how? I'm pretty hung in the 35mm era . . . But then I was the last person I know to get a microwave (or a CD player, now that I think of it . . .). Guess its time I stepped up. Anyway, I have a couple pics on my computer others have sent me, and I have a scan or two I have sent. Would it work to "insert" the pics in the body of a post, or is there another way to do that?

Educate me and I'll share.

Thanks.

Allen

[shabbychick]

Allen,
When you type a message post, there's a paper clip option at the top of the toolbar for inserting files. Just insert your jpeg file (picture file) when you're done typing your message. It shows up way at the bottom instead of at the top like in a regular e-mail. One thing, though, is that the picture can't be too big, so if you have a picture editor on your computer (like Microsoft picture manager) and can compress the pics for e-mail or web pages, they'll load better. Hope this helps.

[allen820]

Thanks for the instruction!

I'll attach a scan of a post card pic of our house. It's a pre-1940 post card of a night scene in Town of Norris, TN. A friend spied it on ebay. How cool is that?! Ours is the brick in the center of the card.

Hope this works . . .

Allen

[ChapterTwo]

Allen, it worked just fine!

Your house and your neighborhood are so sweet - this looks like a dream sequence of an ideal setting...lovely!

Are there more houses in the area now, especially on the side of the street from which we're looking at your home? Thanks for sharing the postcard with us. :)

[allen820]

There are about 600 homes in Norris. Of those, I would guess about 2/3's are the original cottages and the others are newer buildings. The newer houses are located in areas to themselves, so the original planned community is pretty much intact. And most of the houses have been well cared for. Most of the residents are into maintaining the character of the community. The whole of the town is on the National Historic Register (the first whole town to earn this distiction, I think), so that helps, too.

There are houses occassionally available, but one has to be patient. We looked for a year or more, before finding our house, then we waited through a nine month restoration to get in. So, we were almost two years getting here from the time we decided "Norris is it."

I'll attach a link to a Times article about the town. You will probably have to copy and paste to your brouser. Be sure and look through the slide show in that article.

<http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/greathomesanddestinations/21havens.html>

Allen

[shabbychick]

I can't get the link to work for me. It says it can't find the article. It sounds like a wonderful community, though. I'll have to hunt around on the NYT website and see if I can find it through a search.

[shabbychick]

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/20/greathomesanddestinations/1121-HAVENS_index.html

Allen, is this the slideshow you were talking about? Norris looks like a lovely community. I would really enjoy going to that beautiful middle school to work every day.

[ChapterTwo]

Shabbychick - You have to make sure to omit the < and the > when you cut/paste the link, above. Then it works. (I've been down that road before! :o )

[allen820]

Shabbychick, that is the slide show. Did you read the accompanying article? One quote in there is that "the houses seem to be chatting with each other." And so they do, and have been for 75 years now!

You must be a teacher? Middle school? Brave sole! My daughter lives here in Norris, too, and teaches first grade in a nearby community. She lives in a smaller original cottage that will need quite a bit of restoration over time, but its all there. That will give her something to spend her time and money on for years to come!

About the middle school, the principal is Jeff Harshbarger. He also lives in an original Norris restoration which was done by the same people who did ours. We visited his home, as well as others in the area, for ideas, as we were getting into our own restoration. The school was originally the High School for Norris, then for northern Anderson County. A few years ago, it underwent some major restoration also, and was made into the Middle School. It's a neat old building.

Allen

[shabbychick]

Allen, I did see the article. What a cool town. I am a middle school librarian, and I do enjoy the work even though adolescents can be trying at times. They're fun to work with on their better days. :) I did my student teaching in a huge old building with lovely wood staircases and real wood molding. They later tore the school down, which was a shame, but it wasn't earthquake safe. I wish I could have gotten my hands on some of that wood, though.

[Carrie]

Thank you for the links and the pictures. Very pretty neighborhood. I can understand why you love it so, Allen.

[allen820]

Chapter Two, I got carried away before I answered your question -- sorry. Yes there are more houses in the area and across the street. The pic is of an area of the old town where I happen to live. If you saw the slide show in the NYT article, all the houses and the pictured town center are connected by pedestrian walkways -- mostly narrow asphalt paths. It would not take much more than an hour to walk all through the original community, passing by many of the original cottages. In the post card, at right front, you can see a set of stone steps going up from the road onto a path which splits right and left. There is another set of steps on the opposite side of the road likewise connecting to a walkway. Of course, all that is still here today (but dang if the trees aren't a lot bigger!).

Allen

[ChapterTwo]

Yardwork was calling me yesterday, Allen, so I haven't yet had a chance to look at the slideshow but I hope I will, this evening. Thanks for all of the wonderful information. :)

[vintage girl]

What a lovely lovely community. :)

[jabbrley]

Hahahah, Alan....we, too, are a wee bit behind the times. My husband still prefers a rotary dial phone and a manual (nonelectric) typewriter! I do compute but am not up on the latest gadgets ...even cell phones that do things other than calls!

I want to say, I'd like to live in your little community!