The first sound that greets you at Oyster Glass is waves lapping gently on the shore. The second is Venus the dog’s barks of excitement ringing through the house. “We originally thought she was a basenji, a barkless dog,” explains Laura Glassburn. “You see how that went?” she says with a good-natured eye roll and the tilt of a head toward the dog, now curled up on the couch. “I used to have two little terriers, and I know she learned how to bark from them.”
Laura and Venus, along with Laura’s husband Doug, have barely lived in the house by the water for a year, but it already has a distinct, comforting sense of home, as though they’ve been here much longer. The Southern coastal cottage earned the name Oyster Glass as an ode to the Glassburns’ name. When asked about their backgrounds, Laura has a short explanation. “Native,” she says, pointing to herself. She then points to Doug. “Yankee.” The pair bursts into laughter.
Laura has deep Alabama roots, growing up in Monroeville for just a few years before her family moved to Mobile, where she attended St. Paul’s Episcopal School. “I feel like we’ve just always been here,” she says. “My mom was born in Mobile, right behind the old Weinackers. You know all those places like Macy Place and Ann Court? My mom is Ann. My grandfather was a builder in Mobile. He built all of those and named one after every kid.” Laura herself has lived in Fairhope around 40 years…