Great Places To Enjoy a Cottage Vacation
If you are planning your summer vacation and want something unique…perhaps away from the crowds and congestion of the typical beach resort or the hectic activity of those bustling tourist destinations…you might want to consider renting a cottage in a secluded coastal village along the Maine coast or the Oregon shoreline. For generations, families have been packing up the kids and heading to the lakes of Michigan and Wisconsin to a cozy cottage set in the woods, where they have enjoyed a few weeks of outdoor adventure filled with hiking, fishing, and boating.
	Of course, if you are one of those people for whom a vacation is not complete without room service, a five-star restaurant and days of unending pampering, a rustic cottage might not work for you.  However, there are a growing number of cottage-style communities that offer a more complete package of creature comforts, along with the privacy and seclusion of a smaller, more intimate setting. Whether you prefer an amenity-filled resort-style community like Florida’s Steinhatchee Landing or the captivating charm and romance of Cabot Cove Cottages, nestled quietly in one of Maine’s beautiful waterside settings, a cottage vacation offers a sense of nostalgia and a relaxing escape from the stress and pressure of today’s hurried lifestyles. Top: Steinhatchee Landing, Florida  Left:  Bayside, Maine Above Left: Cabot Cove Cottages, Maine   Above Right: Port Townsend, Washington
Dotted all across the landscape of America, you will find a varied collection of small towns and communities that have for generations been known as “cottage towns”…resort destinations that lie dormant in the off-season and then spring to life as families descend and take up residence in small, often dated cottages where parents can escape for a few days to hike nearby woods, fish pristine lakes and gurgling streams or, perhaps, just relax on a screened porch and enjoy the summer breezes. Meanwhile, the kids are free to swim, go canoeing or, maybe, hop on their bikes for a short expedition down to the neighborhood ice cream shop.  Meals are usually pretty casual affairs…sometimes a family gathering on the deck or grilling the day’s fresh catch on the barbeque. The outdoor environment and the style of the cottages may vary from locale to locale, but whether it’s the ocean views near Port Townsend, Washington, the sweet marsh air of the Carolina Low Country, the quaint charm of a Maine fishing village, the picturesque small towns of the California wine country, a cottage neighborhood in historic Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts or a wooded cabin on a Michigan lake, the objective of a cottage vacation is the same anywhere you go…to rest, relax and enjoy a gathering of family and friends in a peaceful and pleasure-filled setting.     Top, L to R: Cottage community at Bayside, Maine, Honeymoon cottages at Seaside FL, Secluded getaway in the Maine woods Bottom, L to R:  Romantic Smoky Mountain retreat, Tennessee lakeside, Waterfront cottages on Florida’s Sanibel Island.		Top to bottom: Ocean view from Port Townsend WA cottage, Historic cottage neighborhood in Oak Bluffs MA, Vista of California wine country at Aurora Park Cottages, Harborside Cottages ME