You’re Invited to the Southern Shores Flat Top Tour on April 23

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After a hiatus in 2015, the Southern Shores Historic Flat Top Cottage Tour is back! This year’s tour will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Tour tickets are $5.00 and will be sold on the day of the tour at 156 Wax Myrtle Trail or 13 Skyline Road. The ticket covers all of the cottages on the tour.

Fifty years ago, flat top cottages dominated the Southern Shores landscape. Known for their distinctive cinder block walls, flat roofs, jewel-toned soffits, and vertical shutters, Southern Shores flat tops were designed by Frank Stick (1884-1966), the visionary developer, painter, outdoorsman, and architect. Today, only about thirty Flat Tops remain, most built from indigenous Outer Banks materials.

Sixteen of Southern Shores’s remaining historic cottages will be open for the tour on April 23:

  • 156 Wax Myrtle Trail (Clarke Cottage, and Tour Headquarters)
  • 13 Skyline Road (Outer Banks Community Foundation, and Second Tour Headquarters)
  • 43 Ocean Blvd (Powell)
  • 69 Ocean Blvd (Sea Spray)
  • 113 Ocean Blvd (Knight)
  • 120 Ocean Blvd (4 Gulls)
  • 23 Porpoise Run (Sokol-Clements)
  • 157 Ocean Blvd (Sea Breezes)
  • 8 Yellow Fin Lane (Blair)
  • 159 Wax Myrtle Trail (Falconer)
  • 169 Ocean Blvd (Atlantic Breezes)
  • 172 Ocean Blvd (Pink Perfection)
  • 196 Ocean Boulevard (Toute-de-Suite)
  • 18 E. Dogwood Trail (Oh So Sandy)
  • 218 Ocean Blvd (Mackey)
  • 188 Ocean Boulevard (Mike’s View)

There are two headquarter cottages where tour tickets will be sold: 156 Wax Myrtle Trail (entrance facing Porpoise Run) and 13 Skyline Road (Outer Banks Community Foundation). Maps will also be available at headquarter cottages, detailing the addresses of each open house. Brief histories of the cottages will also be provided. Red and blue balloons will mark cottages that are open on the day of the event.

Many of the houses are within easy walking distance of each other. For those houses, parking will be available at the intersection of Wax Myrtle and Porpoise Run.

All proceeds from the tour will benefit the Flat Top Preservation Fund of the Outer Banks Community Foundation. The Flat Top Preservation Fund is a perpetual endowment that helps fund the maintenance, protection, and preservation of the Community Foundation’s flat top headquarters at 13 Skyline Road. Built in 1953 by Frank Stick, the cottage was donated to the Community Foundation in 2007 and is the only publicly protected flat top in Southern Shores.

For more information, please visit the Facebook page for Southern Shores Historic Flat Top Cottages, or contact Sally or Steve Gudas at 804-399-8342 or seatide1@gmail.com.