Mandy’s Cottage.
The namesake of the cottage is September Amanda “Mandy” Cabral (1962-1984), the middle daughter of Meara (McKie) Cabral (1926-1996) and her second husband, Reginald Warren “Reggie” Cabral (1923-1996). Mandy was born in September. (Her sister April was born in April.) She lived in this cottage in her youth. In early 1984, Mandy moved to Sarasota, Fla. She was murdered in the early morning of 8 July 1984. Her body was discovered by a bicyclist in a wooded area of Bradenton, about 10 miles from her home.
A structure has stood in this spot at least since 1889, when it was shown on the Sanborn insurance map as a coal house. Its northwest facade fronts on a 12-foot-wide right-of-way in the middle of the block, which provides rear access to Atlantic Avenue.
A family of foxes moved in — and under — Mandy’s Cottage in 2018, and were recorded in a beguiling video by Jennifer Cabral, who lives in the main house with her husband, Ian Leahy. “I count six of them in this?” she wrote at the time. “Hard to tell them apart. Initially I said, ‘Oh, this one has a white tip on its tail.’ Turns out, they all do! It’s a happy break from politics.”
A fox family captured on video by Jennifer Cabral and posted on Facebook, 27 April 2018.
Mandy’s Cottage, 2012, by David W. Dunlap.
Left: The map shows Mandy’s Cottage and the right-of-way. Right: The cottage on Blessing of the Fleet day, 2019, by Michelle White Millett, courtesy of Jennifer Cabral.
Mandy’s Cottage at left, and the right-of-way out to Atlantic Avenue, in 2012. The cottage immediately to its right belongs to 158 Commercial Street. The next one is at the rear of the 156 Commercial Street parcel. Photo, 2012, by David W. Dunlap.
¶ Last updated on 30 April 2020.
160 Commercial Street on the Town Map.
Also at 160 Commercial Street:
• Shed
Thumbnail image: Photo, 2019, by Michelle White Millett.
For further research online:
• September Amanda Cabral (1962-1984)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 106334430.