Cooking with the Hartleys on Logan Martin Lake
Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Kelsey Bain
A sign at the water’s edge of Donna and Lee Hartley’s Logan Martin Lake home offers a greeting to visitors, as well as the couple’s only rules. “Welcome to our Cottage,” the sign reads. “Relax, Unwind, Enjoy.”
It’s a simple philosophy, but it’s one that the Hartleys have embraced in the four years they’ve lived in the cozy three-story retreat. They’ve renovated the home and created an outdoor wonderland where the retirees enjoy the peace and quiet, in addition to their brand-new hobbies. “It’s perfect for us,” said Donna, who has taken up gardening while Lee has become an avid kayaker. “It’s so peaceful, and we love just being still and being appreciative.”
The Hartleys, who were high school sweethearts in Mobile and dated for a decade, have been married for 38 years. They lived in Moody for most of that time and had their eye on the Clear Creek home for years before making it their own. They first discovered it during the 15 years they had a camper at Powell’s Hideaway before deciding to downsize and make lake life a permanent state of mind during retirement.
“We rode all through these sloughs,” Donna said. “I kept telling Lee, ‘I want that house.’ ” Lee promised to make it a reality. “I kept telling her, ‘One of these days, I’m going to knock on their door, and I’m going to buy that house for you,’” he said.
When they finally got serious about looking, the house had come on the market, and he took her there one day. This time, however, they went by car, so Donna didn’t realize where they were. “Go down to the water,” Lee told her, and that’s when the realization that they were at her dream home finally dawned.
Reflecting their style
Although she’d loved the house from afar for years, Donna and Lee both realized some changes were in store. “The inside was set up like a lodge, and I told Lee, “We’ve bought a Holiday Inn,’” Donna said with a laugh. “Everything was very vanilla, but we’d redone two houses and knew we could eventually make it ours.”
One major focus was the kitchen. “It had to go,” said Lee, who is the cook in the family. “I like Cajun food the best. I love to cook it, and I love to eat it. One of my favorite dishes is to put crawfish etouffee over a grilled steak.”
He comes by it honestly. Lee, who followed in his father’s footsteps, worked offshore as chief engineer on supply boats and as a commercial fisherman for most of his career. As a result, “I lived in Louisiana off and on for most of my life. Dad worked over there, and we moved there during the summer to be closer to him. I learned to cook when I was 13,” he said.
In order to work his magic, “the whole kitchen had to be reconfigured,” Lee said. The original design had a small peninsula with the sink under the kitchen window. “You couldn’t open the cabinets in the peninsula unless the oven door was open,” he said.
Now, the peninsula is gone, making way for a table that Donna loves to set with china that’s been handed down in Lee’s family for generations. The sink is in a large island, and the cabinets across the back of the kitchen have been extended. A quartz countertop and a subway tile backsplash have been added, and the result is a cheery, sunny space that’s perfect for gatherings.
“It’s more convenient now and much more usable now,” Lee said. The only thing missing is about 40 cabinets. “We had 60 cabinets in the kitchen in our old home, and we’re down to about 20,” said Donna, adding that the home where they raised their daughter, Victoria, was about 3,700 square feet while this house is about 1,800. “When I say we downsized, I mean we downsized.”
Even their furniture was larger at their previous home – too large, in fact, to fit in their new space. “This house has all 8-foot ceilings and our other house had 10-foot ceilings,” Donna said. “We couldn’t even get some of my armoires in the house because the doors were so small. We had to enlarge the door just to get the appliances in.”
One thing they made sure they had room for was a collection of old mirrors that hold sentimental value for the couple. “Between his family and mine, we had a lot,” she said. “I just love old mirrors.” Their daughter gave the collection new life with chalk paint and wax, and Donna said the result is an even better reflection of their more casual, relaxed lifestyle.
Although the cottage has three floors, the lower level is home for Lee’s 98-year-old mother. His parents moved in with the Hartleys about 18 years ago, and Lee’s father passed away three years ago at 95. “Dad lived offshore all those years. He never lived on the water and always wanted to,” Lee said. “He enjoyed it a year or so before he passed away.” Now, the arrangement gives Lee’s mom her privacy, a separate patio and a beautiful view of the lake.
The great outdoors
The view is something they never get tired of, Donna said. While the water is the main attraction, the outdoor oasis the Hartleys have created has taken things to a whole new level.
“When I retired, I took on planting flowers,” said Donna, who worked for AT&T for 30 years before leaving the corporate world a year and a half ago. “I’d never planted anything before, but Lee bought me two landscaping books.” Donna loves color, and she has since created beautiful beds filled with lantana, dwarf crape myrtles, Mexican heather, daylilies and other flowering plants.
Lee set the stage for her gardens with all the yard work he did the first year they were in the home. He leveled the yard, laid sod and removed bushes that were hiding the house. “He dug up 28 holly bushes,” Donna said. “You couldn’t even see the bottom porch or the railing.
Although the yard is a focal point, there’s one feature in the water that catches the attention of boaters, especially boats filled with children. A whimsical cement dragon, which has been in the water for decades, came with the house and has become a favorite of the Hartleys. “I bet it weights three tons,” Lee said. A neighbor, who is an artist, is going to paint the dragon when the water level is lowered this fall, he said.
Now that the hard work of creating their own little piece of paradise is done, the Hartleys are able to enjoy what they’ve created together. “We love to sit on the porch, even when it’s raining, and we eat dinner out here a lot,” Donna said.
They’ve also recently created an outdoor living room under the carport, complete with comfortable seating and a fountain, which Lee’s mother particularly enjoys. They’re planning on adding a television and creating a fun ceiling from either tin or old, colorful shutters, Donna said.
“We sit out here in the mornings,” she said. “I’ve got my Diet Coke, and he’s out here with his coffee.” Although they toyed with the idea of turning the space into an outdoor kitchen, they quickly decided they’d enjoy the extra living area more. “We didn’t want to have another kitchen to clean,” Donna said.
That’s not to say they don’t enjoy cooking out; Lee grills three or four times a week, cooking everything from steaks to marinated chicken or pork chops. “I grill a lot of vegetables,” he said, adding that he loves a good charcoal fire. “There’s more flavor when you use charcoal.”
Although they enjoy their outdoor living spaces, some of their favorite times are down by the water. Lee used to love fly fishing, but now he’s spending much more time on his new hobby: kayaking. “I’m in the water at 5:30 every morning,” he said. “I’ve been from here to the dam and back,” a total of about 8 miles.
Donna, especially, loves listening to the birds – a sound she compares to a symphony. “It’s just delightful to sit out early in the morning before anyone is up and outside,” she said. “The water is so still and peaceful, and you can sit and listen to the birds and appreciate the be beautiful work of God. We feel so blessed and thankful.”
Crawfish Etouffee
- 3 pounds crawfish tail, peeled
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- ½ cup crawfish fat
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 bunch of celery, chopped
- 2 cups green onion, chopped
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbsp roasted mashed garlic
- 1 cup oil
- Cajun seasoning to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Water, as needed
Slowly stirring flour and oil over a medium flame, make a light, golden-brown roux. Add all of the chopped onion, garlic, peppers, celery and parsley; cook until onions are tender. Add crawfish and fat. Cook for 20 minutes. Add very little water, stirring slowly and adding just a little at a time. Etouffee should begin to thicken up. Once it’s thick, add salt, pepper, paprika and seasoning to taste. Serve over white rice and garnish with green onions. NOTE: Shrimp, lump crab or chicken can be used as a substitute for crawfish tails and fat.
From Chef Jeff Warner, St. Francisville, La.
Cajun Seafood Gumbo
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup oil
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 2 large bell peppers, chopped
- 1 bunch of celery, chopped
- 1 pound pork tasso
- Mashed roasted garlic
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 15 cloves
- ½ gallon water
- Cayenne pepper and salt to taste
- 1 cup dried shrimp
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- Louisiana hot sauce to taste
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 2 pounds small shrimp
- 1 pound lump crab meat
- 1 pound crawfish tails
- Cajun seasoning to taste
In a gumbo pot, mix oil and flour on high to medium heat to make a chocolate-colored roux. Add onions, peppers, celery and garlic and sauté well. Stir in tasso and cook for 2 minutes, then add water. Stir well and cook for 1 hour, seasoning occasionally to taste. Add parsley and dried shrimp during this procedure as well. Add shrimp after gumbo cooks for an hour, then cook an additional 20 minutes. Add crawfish tails and lump crabmeat. Cook for an additional 30 minutes. Add green onions, season, and serve over fluffy, white rice.
From Susan Clark, New Iberia, La.
