Sometime in the 1920s, my grandfather came to the
Detroit area. It didn't take him long to find the
Flats. Before the end of that decade he had taken
a government lease of a lot on one of the islands
along the Sni. There he built a cottage much
like the other cottages and duck-shacks in the
area.
It was about 20 x 24 and lightly constructed -- 2 x 4s on 24" centers. Clapboard on the outside; plasterboard above wainscotting on the inside. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a dining/living-room on the ground floor; and a large open space among the rafters above. Originally built as a duck hunting and fishing shack it was on pilings in a bit of low, marshy ground. Beneath the cottage were rollers so that you could slide the duckboats in for storage.
In time it became used as a summer cottage as well, and some improvements were needed; dry land for one thing! A sea-wall was put in along the front and one side, and enough fill was dredged up to raise the island enough that you could (almost always) walk dry-shod to the door.