There is a house on the corner of School and Dogwood that is for sale. It’s a small house, nothing too fancy. But it is a house that has known love.

The avocado paint on the outside has faded and the stone lined garden beds have not been mulched in an age, but there is a single silver Christmas ornament hanging from the boughs of the big cedar out front that unmistakably says “this place was once called home.”

A gardener must have lived here, as evidenced by the wood-stove plantar by the front door, which still houses a mid-December oregano. The remnants of a raised garden bed in the side yard further enforce that someone with a green thumb once resided within these walls.

Empty now, the house seems sad, if you believe such things have feelings, which I do. To step inside is to know that, at some point, this house had a vibrant existence, full of laughter and memory making. The scars on the wood floors tell stories of rearranged furniture to accommodate Christmas trees. The empty hooks by the bookshelves I imagine were for holiday stockings.

Yes, this house has known love.

The for sale sign in the yard longingly calls for another to come fill the house with joy. Some houses are delighted to be up for adoption by another family, but this one was so loved by the first family to make it a home that it seems a little gloomy in its emptiness.

Oh, but the potential for new love is there! There are many windows and when they are open and the song birds’ tune comes streaming in with the sunlight, you can see the beauty that still resides in these old bones. All she needs is a little TLC and she would be the most charming home in all of Fairhope again! She simply needs the right person to love her, and the little cottage on the corner of School and Dogwood would shine with the happiness that any good home deserves.

I do not know what the next chapter for this property holds, but I do so hope that it is more love. The recent trend in Fairhope is for gems like this to be scooped up by developers, torn down, and larger, more expensive homes to be built in it’s place. I, personally, feel like that would be such a shame.

Cottages like this one are part of what makes Fairhope a lovely place to live. They are reminders that a little can be a lot- life is about the joys of family and the coziness of a safe place to call home.

For more information about the cottage on the Corner of School and Dogwood, please contact me at 251-278-9809 or at [email protected]. Nothing would make me happier than to see this house be called Home once again! And, for someone with the right vision, this place could really deliver!

Merry Christmas! May love always find you.

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Alexis Griffith is a licensed Realtor in Fairhope Alabama, working with Roberts Brothers, Inc.