Cottage Tour Captivates Visitors
On Saturday, September 10th, Cannon Beach welcomed it’s 8th annual Cottage Tour, much to the delight of many visitors and homeowners. The tour continues to grow and attract guests from all over Oregon and Washington, and even across the USA. The Cottage Tour is the largest annual fundraiser for the Cannon Beach History Museum, and includes the tour, a luncheon and lecture, and a wine reception with hors d’oeuvres afterward at the museum.
For the last 5 years, the custom has been that local artist Jean Williams creates a wall hanging quilt that is raffled off at the reception. Jean’s quilts usually feature a theme, this year’s was called “From The Beginning” and told history of Cannon Beach in quilt squares. Her work is absolutely beautiful, and that is not just an opinion, she recently won the Blue Ribbon in the Clatsop County Fair for another of her works. This year the raffle winner was Richard Mays, Cannon Beaches’ very own City Manager!
Mother Nature was certainly on our side for the tour, the weather was sunny and warm throughout the day, which made for a record number of attendees walking, marching, and riding bikes from home to home.
For this year’s tour, our theme changed to “Cottages and More” and included some incredible new beach homes, the new Nursing Museum located at 3285 S. Hemlock, and even a condo at The Lodges at Cannon Beach. The tour centered on the Tolovana area, and featured an array of homes and architectural styles. The homes ranged in age from over 70 years old to brand new, and from very cozy in size to sprawling dream houses.
Some of the most amazing features included a front row view of Haystack Rock, a quaint bedroom loft, and an incredible stone fireplace. Favorites among the ticket holders were the adorable “Simple Blessings” cottage at 1372 S. Hemlock – the only home outside of Tolovana, and the “Sweet Home Tolovana” at 3539 Pacific. “Simple Blessing” has been lovingly maintained as a quaint one bedroom cottage with a beautiful stone fireplace and a vintage guest room above the garage. “Sweet Home Tolovana” is another classic cottage, though it was remodeled in 2006, it retains it’s original charm, and features a dining table made from a bowling lane of the long gone Cannon Beach bowling alley.
Kerry Burg’s “Moon Shell” Cottage was the tour’s only repeat home, it was so popular last year, in part due to a photo spread in the Oregonian’s Home & Garden section, that not all attendees were able to get inside it’s tranquil walls, so the Burg family graciously agreed to be on the tour a second time.
The Cottage Tour also featured a lecture from Mark Beach that explored the various changes in getting to Cannon Beach over the decades, the changes in accommodations and housing, and talked about some of the features of the homes on this year’s tour. His humorous lecture painted a very real picture of just how difficult it was for the city folk of Portland to even find their way to the Cannon Beach area in the early twentieth century.
Many volunteers came through above and beyond, and we wish to thank all of those involved in making the tour happen, starting with our volunteer Board of Directors, Bob Mushen, Dale Shafer, Lori Courtright, Erin Bernard, GIna Simone, Tray Abel, Stephanie Ansley, Margaret Doman, Robert Knecht, and Earl “Skip” Twietmeyer. Our volunteers included Christ Bouneff, Steve Crane, Theresa Dice, Marilyn Dwyer, Deanna Evans, Helen Feldmeier, Pat Funk, Sharon & Bev Graver, Liz Johnson, Mr & Mrs. Laws, Kathy Leduc, Frank Lynch, Barbara Maltman, Jeanie McLaughlin, Chuck Murdy, Lynne Murray, Jenee Mushen, Dave Pastor, Tod Rowley, Terri Royse, Jean Williams, Rich Trucke, Diane Zimmerman, and the Palette Puddlers. And, we would especially like to thank our home owners: Lynne Taylor, Carrie Cone & David Lange Home, Julie & Tom Davis, Mimi Siegel, Kerry Berg, Jean Williams, David Vonada & Family, Melodie Chenevert, The Lodges at Cannon Beach, Andrew Luccock, and Jan McAllister. Our wonderful sponsors were Arbor Care Tree Specialists, Bruce’s Candy Kitchen, The Tolovana Inn, Cannon Beach Property Management, The Cannon Beach Collection, Robert and Jenee Mushen, and the agents and brokers of Windermere Cronin and Caplan Realty Group, also thanks to t Jennifer, Katherine, Karrie, and Lori from the Bank of Astoria for their help.
Finally, congratulations are in order for our usual caterer of the event, who was unable to do this year’s luncheon because it fell on the same day as her daughter’s wedding! Instead, we used a replacement caterer, due to that, the luncheon was not up to our usual standards, and to all we apologize for this. Next year, we will make sure our usual caterer has nothing else going on well in advance. Thanks to all the people and businesses of Cannon Beach for welcoming our Cottage Tour guests so warmly.
By Amy Stocky
Previously published in the Cannon Beach Gazette