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by Alex Cuff/PNN Newsbrief Editor Until there was money to be made, no one really celebrated rural Florida’s contribution to architectural history. Now, several upscale developers are cashing in on the latest trend. “Cracker style” homes have features similar to those of the shacks built by some of Florida’s early settlers: corrugated-metal roofs, screened-in porches, and clapboard siding. “Crackers lived close to nature,” says Mike Reininger, a former executive at Walt Disney Co.’s hospitality development group, who is the creative force behind WaterColor, one of the developments where the new homes are being built. Every year, 15,000 bales of pine needles are brought in to hide the white sand and provide a backwoods feel. Large chunks of weathered tree branches are carefully strewn along trails to give the “freshly fallen” look. Michelle and Steve Coslick bought a million-dollar vacation home in WaterColor, which is being developed by the homebuilding subsidiary of Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co. "When I think cracker," says the 36-year old Ms. Coslick, "I think of getting back to the essence and away from material aspects of life." I guess there is nothing material about her 1,000 square feet of screened in porch where she does yoga or the $700 mahogany screen door. Last year it was “Bum Fights,” a couple weeks ago, it was the "hick hunt" for the CBS’s recycled version of the Beverly Hillbillies (see TJ Johnson’s article 1/28/03) and now the endearment of white trash housing as the latest get-rich-quick scheme disguised at creative architecture. Some older Floridians were disappointed at the recent revolution of “cracker” from a stigma to a symbol of architectural sophistication |
Original Post Date
2000-01-01 12:00 AM
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