by Cottage Cheese
Cottage Couture. Is it just me or does it happen to you, too?
Sometimes, when I’m strolling along the avenues on Tybee Island, admiring the candyland of cottages along the way, I get the distinct feeling that some of the quaint little homes are winking at me.
Now, I know y’all are thinking that Tybee is well-known as a drinking island with a fishing problem and that I must be pie eyed on a walk of shame, but I’m as sober as a judge. I really do feel as if some of the cottages are calling me. “Come here, little boy (yes, no matter how old I get I see myself as just a lad). I’ve got something to show you.” Come closer. Wink. Wink.
It’s those gorgeous shutters with the island motifs and colors that beckon me. They say that the eyes are the windows into the soul and I think it’s pretty much the same for little houses. What was once a device to keep out the sun, the wind and other elements is now a calling card of hospitality.
You see, at one time shutters were necessary to the Greeks to protect their homes from their tropical environment. Later, the Spanish introduced shutters to the new world along with colonization. Eventually, large decadent homes in the South sported “plantation shutters”, but shutters have even been associated with fiction and fable, too.
It’s thought that King Louis XIV may have started something. In those days pretty women used to bathe in the ponds and fountains on the palace grounds thus distracting the palace guards. It’s said that Louis had shutters installed to prevent the guards from getting eye strain. He did, however, use the shutters as a way to take a peek outside without drawing too much attention to himself.
Also according to legend, Lady Godiva rode nude on a white horse through Coventry in order to convince her husband to remit a heavy tax on the people. While most people stayed indoors with their shutters closed, a resident named Tom peeped out to catch a glimpse of the naked diva. Thus, the term “Peeping Tom” came to be.
See there. The thought that our vintage island cottages are winking at me doesn’t seem so strange, does it?
Just take a look for yourself as several of our cottages strike a pose.
