HOLLY NADLER
508-274-2329
Everything’s up to date in Cottage City, especially if you set the date at 1870. Don’t your eyes always bug out at the sight of a new construction in town? These shockingly just-born buildings always seem to spring up overnight like big, beige-shingled mushrooms. Of course you realize you haven’t driven, biked, walked or scootered that way in a while, but there it is nonetheless, smack in the middle of a lot whose prior abode was — had to be — forgettable since you’re scratching your head trying to remember what humble structure this new temple to dollars and luxury has replaced.
That was my first thought when I clapped eyes on the home that’s been built on the corner of Greenleaf and Duke’s County Extension. I was geared to bristle at any hint of trophy-itis right here in our collective backyard but, guess what? It’s beautiful! And it’s not overdone, although it could have been if, in true trophy style, it had taken up every last square inch of the property.
The architecture is Victorian meets Federal, with double wide stairs leading to double doors. In fact “double” is the operative word here, as you’ll soon see: The porch is set high — smart thinking in this location across from flood-happy Sunset Lake — with double sets of narrow, double-hung windows. Upstairs, double balconies extend to double windows, each set framing a glass door. A green lamp and a red lamp provide a nautical motif.
The roofline is steepled with understated gingerbread tracery, all the trim done up in a light brown the shade of dark blond eyebrow liner. Steeples and balconies extend to the sides, giving the house a lovely silhouette from all directions. The pale shingles cry out, New! New! New! It’s a shame the shingles can’t stay pale; within a year, as we who’ve had the distinct pleasure of occupying freshly minted homes know, the weathering process seeps into the shingles, and before long you find yourself dwelling in just another old grey house.
Oh, and the double theme? Turns out the house on Greenleaf is a duplex. And it’s modular, can you believe that? It was an effort to replace a duplex in East Chop owned by two sisters who perhaps had childhood issues about who was getting the bigger piece of chocolate cake, hence the identical two wedges of living space jammed seamlessly together.
Another re-do is taking place at the ferry terminal and wharf. Again you’ve got the baby-beige new shingles, and a few, much-appreciated Victorian touches. There’s a dunce-cap tower in the front, multiple steeples over the new rooftop extending halfway down the wharf, and the hint of gingerbread in the half-wagon-wheel spokes set above the steeples.
At the base of Circuit, some high profile engineering is in progress along the roadway. Everywhere you stand in the middle of town you hear machine beeps, shouts of workers, lumber thudding against lumber. Oak Bluffs has got to be the shovel-readiest town on the Island. And we need to give thanks to the local leaders who pulled all these projects together.
In other news: the Spaghetti Dinner benefit for Derick Araujo and family is set for Sunday, April 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the P.A. Club. Tickets are $15, and you can purchase them from Corinna Black at the Oak Bluffs School or from Katrina Araujo at 508-693-2029.
Trivia Night with host Ray Whitaker will create fun for the whole family at the Oak Bluffs School on April 30. Come test your knowledge and take a chance at winning some great prizes, including a fire engine red ’66 mustang convertible (I made that last part up).
Finally, Mazeltov to our newly elected selectman. I’m peering into my crystal ball to see who’s going to win among the impressive display of candidates, in alphabetical order: Karen Achille, Gail Barmakian, Kris Chvatal and Kenneth Davey. You can be sure this enterprising newspaper will have staffers up late at night to stop the presses and bring you the winner in this very edition, so if you haven’t perused the front page yet, kindly do so now.
I’m not telling who I voted for.
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