The setting of the Annie Crow Knoll series was inspired by an actual community of summer cottages. My husband and I have rented one of these cottages on the Chesapeake Bay for fifteen years. I’ve heard there once were hundreds of little groups of cottages built in the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s around the bay, but most have been demolished for private homes and other development. However, I know of several, precious communities that still exist. It’s a trip back in time when you step on to one of these properties. Time and time again, I hear nostalgic people, who visit after years of being away say, “It’s just like it was when I was a kid. Nothing has changed.”
Sunrise Cottage: The idea for naming the cottages came from a need to personalize them to their inhabitants. I pictured Annie’s mother Liz waking up early to start her day of chores and watching the sun come up over the river as she drank her coffee.
Sunset Cottage: This seemed like the ideal name for the cottage directly across the Knoll from Sunrise Cottage. Overlooking the water, it would afford the best view of the spectacular sunsets over the Chesapeake Bay. It would also be a prime choice for important characters through-out the series. The Finches were the first to rent from Annie’s parents, and they selected Sunset Cottage.
Sun-swept Cottage: I took the name of Sun-swept from a cottage sign in Cape May Point, NJ. Liz is also very particular about keeping the cottages clean and up to snuff. No cottage on her property would be un-swept, but they could be sun-swept.
Kingfisher Cottage: The Belted Kingfisher is one of my favorite birds here, so I made it Annie’s father Luke’s favorite bird. Since Annie’s mother may have named Sunrise, it would likely be Luke’s turn to name the cottage next to their full-time home.
Tockwogh Cottage: There is a Camp Tockwogh near the location of the novel, and the American Indian name for the Sassafras River, where Annie Crow Knoll is located, was Tockwogh.
Cockatiel Cottage: My husband and I call our cottage Cockatiel Cottage after our pet parrot. I thought if Grace had a cockatiel, she’d have an immediate connection to Annie and her crow.
Idelwhile Cottage: This came from the name of a street and from a small hotel that once existed in this area when it was a crowded summer resort frequented by vacationers, who arrived from Baltimore and Philadelphia by steamer. The character of Miss Agnes doesn’t do much but watch and criticize everyone from her rocker on the porch of Idlewhile.
Hummingbird Haven: Unlike Miss Agnes, Mrs. Waters is very active making the yard in from of her cottage look lovely. Her flower garden and bird feeders would attract lots of birds and especially the little Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds we get in this part of the country. She would name her cottage Hummingbird Haven.
Slim’s Secret: When I was a child, my family vacationed in the town of Strathmere located along the New Jersey shore. Back on the bay, there was a little bar and restaurant called Twists. I looked forward to going there with my parents for a dinner of either chicken or shrimp in the basket. However, the real highlight was the carved coconut heads that were lined up on shelves above the bar. There had to be twenty of them, all with different character faces hand-carved by Mr. Twist when he was stationed in the South Pacific during WII. When my husband and I went there for lunch just last year, I was thrilled to see that the new owners had kept the coconut heads displayed just as Mr. Twist had done back in the 1950’s! Although I was tempted, I never named a cottage Coconut Cottage. I did decide that the character of Slim carved coconut heads during his WII stint, and they would be on shelves in Slim’s Secret. I adjusted that name from Spike’s Secret here in our group of cottages.
Owls Nest: I love owls. I hear Barred Owls and Great-horned Owls call from the woods nearby at night. I thought it would be a good scene for Grace to fall into an owling expedition with Annie and her crow Oliver for their first adventure together. For a few years in a row, we had a pair of Screech Owls fledge babies on the property next door. The first time, our dear neighbor Richard Keephart rushed to Cockatiel Cottage one summer evening to ask me to see what was making a strange sound in the dead tree by his boathouse. I followed him over to find the face of a cute baby Screech Owl staring at me from the hole in the old tree. The next night, Dick and I set up lawn chairs a respectable distance away, and watched two of the three babies fledge from the nest. The following night the third finally came out. It is an experience I’ll always remember.
Fish Tale: This seemed like a great name to establish the friendships among the men on the Knoll, who fish and enjoy a little friendly competition. Although we have women from our cottage community who take their fishing very seriously, too, I thought the joke about Bob Reynolds exaggerating the size of his catches would add to the banter among the men in the first novel. The fishing competition here can get pretty heated in the fall when the rockfish are coming up into the river. At times, folks take pictures of their biggest catch with a yardstick next to the fish so no one will question them.
Blue Heron: These herons are beautiful to watch, and I love the “grumpy old man” noises they make when they are disturbed from their fishing along the beaches. They are a favorite of many people, so it was likely that a cottage would be named Blue Heron Cottage.
Honeymoon Cottage: Now the Honeymoon is very close to my heart because it really exists in our cottage community. This cute and cozy little cottage is located across from ours. I understand that it was moved from a different spot on the property and completely rehabbed right before we started renting here.
No Name Cottage: Maybe I ran out of names or listened to my inner voice to leave one cottage unnamed so that No Name Cottage could be re-christened in the second book. It was a blessing in disguise.
Packard Marlboro’s School House Studio: There is an annual Artist Studio Tour in this area, and once my husband and I visited an original one-room school house renovated for a painter, who needed the space for his large canvases. At the time, I had Packard painting in the attic of his house, but this school house inspired the decision for Packard to rescue an historic school house and move it to the field between his home and Annie Crow Knoll. This choice of Pack’s revealed a great deal about his growth as a person and as an artist. It became one of my favorite locations in the series.
Leave a Reply