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Like leisure boats, beach houses in Emerald Isle, NC, where our family has gone for many years, are often given names. It appears that the practice tracks somewhat the expansion of the beach cottage rental directory business.
It may be nostalgia-induced prejudice and my disdain for the neon Floridization of Outer Banks cottage architecture, but it seems to me that older cottages’ names aim for a kind of naturalistic postcard sublime, while the newer, larger, flashier McVillas have punnier, more self-congratulatory, more yacht-like names.
Anyway, on a recent trip, I decided to catalogue the house names along a stretch of Ocean Road, heading eastward, and ending with the best name of all, which is on the house above:
Top Notch
Windy
Sunspot
Impossible Dream
Granted Wish
Skinny Dipper
Dip in the Sea
Sarah’s Place
Atlantic Breeze
Egret’s Landing
Hearst Haven
Stress Less
May’s Anchorage
Barefoot In Paradise I
Marine Manor
Carolina Dune
The Pyramids
Carolina Clipper
Garland
Glass House
The Wright Place
Legal Tender
Las Brisas
Flagg Ship
Wee One
Wee Two
Dreamtime
Deck House
Dune Crest
Sunswept
Along The Shore
2 The Beach
Sea Oats
Vincents
Wind Drift
Sea Fanatics
Beach Belle
Schlitz Carlton
Live & Ride
Cloud Nine
Five Star
Sand Castle
License To Chill
Emerald Star
Sand Dollar
White Sand
Just For Fun
Dream Weaver
Vitamin Sea
Grace By The Sea
Gentry
Peggy’s Pick
Sand Box
Ebb Tide
Contentment
Time Well Spent
2 If By Sea
Legal Drugs
Blue Heron East
Blue Heron West
Sea Gander
DriftRightIn.com
Dolphin East
Dolphin West
Carolina Cottage
Seanior
Atwater Playhouse
Sea Breeze
Sails Wanted
Cardinals Landing
Apex
Edgewater
Bored Of Education
Southern Comfort
Hide ‘N Sea
Doctor’s Orders
Jiminik
Isis Family Fun
The Sassy Seagull
Laughing Gull
The Dapper Dolphin Den
Barefoot Children
Mother Mother Oceans
Better Daze
The Flight Down
All Ashore
Lucky Strike
Crab Shack
Gimme A Break
A Clear View
Sea Lark
Louie Louie
Red Fish Blue Fish
Just Friends
Chattaqua
Dolphin’s Run
Atlantic Shores
Close Encounter
King Of The Sea
Just For The Halibut
Pink Flamingo
Sea Fever
Sea It All
Lazy Haven
Carolina Recess
Aloha
Splash Of Lime
Siren Song
Little Miss B
Fair Haven
Crews’ Nest
Sweetwater
Surf Princess
Surf ‘N Sound
Surf Grande
The Shore Club
Surf Neptune
Surf Husker
Xanadu
Risky Business
Finally!
A Beach Retreat
What Tower?