If you look in today’s Free Press (for the dozen or so of you who still actually purchase a paper), you will see an article entitled “Up North cottage market heats up.”
This article is accompanied by photos of cottages in northern Michigan that are for sale. There is a nice Houghton Lake starter cottage for $339,000, an affordable cottage in Traverse City listed at $842,000 and a second home on Lake Charlevoix for a mere $1,595,000.
Before going any further, allow me to state my credentials. I am a northern Michigan veteran. My parents had a second home on a working farm in Mesick for many years, I have regularly vacationed in the beautiful north with my family and consider myself knowledgeable about all things Michigan.
These “cottages” listed for sale in the Free Press are so anti northern Michigan as to be sickening. The people I knew that live up north and the ones I have met vacationing there, are generally a down to earth lot that understand their role in the beauty of their surroundings. It is to be a small cog in the world, not to dominate it.
That some rich swine from Oakland County got together with their asshole designers and constructed a monstrosity is wrong. Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.
The Lake Charlevoix cottage in particular is sickening. It blocks the lake view of any poor sod who happens to live anywhere behind them. If you happen to be boating on the lake, you will be confronted with this silly mansion, instead of admiring the natural beauty of the shoreline. It absolutely flies in the face of everything around it, and goes against the first rule of decent design in that it does not fit.
It am also troubled by the huge footprint a house of this size leaves on the land and its resources. The energy used to heat and provide air conditioning for the pampered twits that spend the odd weekend roughing it in the woods, must be considerable. Perhaps a more modest cottage, built with modern energy saving materials, would satisfy their up north needs. Remember, your purpose is to re-connect with the world around you and not use it up.
When I look at these photos, I am reminded of a confrontation my daughter Rachel and son Jackson witnessed at the IGA in Empire. A fudgie was complaining loudly about the lack of a brand name cheese available.
“I can’t use Spartan cheese. I need a name brand.”
“Spartan is a name brand.”
“It’s not my name brand.”
Back home you get your cheese, up north you get Spartan brand. Back home, you can try and dominate the world, up north just blend in for Christ sake.
I suggest that anyone considering building a cottage in northern Michigan take a look at some of the older houses in the area and emulate those. By all means, update and modernize. But don’t build something obscene just because you can. Try to let the world know how successful you are without fouling the environment for others.
Oh, what’s the use!
Cheers, Jim
PS “Oh what’s the use” is what I mutter almost every day while reading the Free Press, my catch phrase if you will (think of it as “Dyn-o-mite” or “I’m so confused”).
