The historic Sears Cottage on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria is being preserved and moved to it's new home just down the street in the Anna Maria Historic Green Village. The cottage, an original mail order home from the Sears Catalog, was constructed on its present site in 1935 and will be moved Tuesday, June 8th at 9 a.m. The cottage was given an historic designation by Sissy Quinn of the Anna Marial Historic Preservation Trust. The Anna Maria Historical Society President Betty Yanger has given enthusiastic approval to the project as well.
The cottage is presently located on a property owned by Pine Avenue Redevelopment (PAR). The PAR partners wanted to see the cottage saved and offered to donate it to the village whose owners, Mike and Lizzie Thrasher, found was an offer they were only too happy to accept.
The Thrashers are in the process of saving several of the old cottages on the Island and will be converting them to various uses including residential, retail and office. Their village will feature a combination of new and old all designed by architect Gene Aubry in the vernacular of historic Old Anna Maria and will incorporate solar and other energy saving devices to bring the old and the new together in a harmonious park like setting in the center of Anna Maria's commercial district. It is one of many changes taking place that will truly take the quaint village in a direction in keeping with it's past.
Dan Gagne, a local contractor well known and respected for the restoration of an old cottage on Pine into his office, will be the contractor for the Village Green project and will coordinate the move of the Sears Cottage to its new location.
Take a look at the pictures in our Gallery as this beautiful cottage is prepped ready for the move.