521 Selma Avenue
Saturday, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Nettie’s Cottage, an eclectic Craftsman’s style house, was built in 1925 by Joseph Perkins Parrish, brother of Albert G. Parrish for whom the Hotel Albert (which was torn down in the 1960s) was named.
The charming home, set amid trees and shrubs on a corner in Old Town, has a front gable with an unusual hipped center section. While Craftsman’s style porches usually have taller brick piers with shorter wood columns, this one has full-height wood columns at the porch. One the 
striking features are these columns and the cluster of three columns at the corner of the porch. The window design is also typical of the Craftsman style, with a four-over-one pane design.
The large Parrish home was in the center of the lot between this house and the brick house to the west, and the result was a Parrish compound: the big house, the brick house and this cottage. The story goes that neither smaller house had a working kitchen; everyone ate meals at the big house.
Marguerite (Mrs. Joseph Parrish) was an avid gardener, and the vestiges of her garden design can still be seen. The present owner, Cecil Gayle, is beginning to restore that garden.
Mrs. Nettie Eskeridge, the second owner, was also a gardener, and many shrubs were planted by her. The present owner has joined this lot with the property of the big house next door where a 
schoolhouse/studio was used by Clara Weaver Parrish whenever she was in Selma. Her designs for stained-glass windows for Tiffany and Co. grace windows in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and also First Baptist Church. Behind the studio is a two-horse stable. The original carriage house is now on the property next door.
Gayle, who has a large country home portrayed in the painting above the bed on the right, has enjoyed using Nettie’s Cottage as a town house, especially during the winter months.
