Little Doors
by Connie Kent
photos 2-7 by Reina Lopez
The generic term is “Fairy Doors.” According to Wikipedia, a fairy door is a miniature door, often set into the base of a tree. Some of them open, revealing small spaces where people can leave notes, wishes, or gifts for the “fairies.“
Susan Knapp became intrigued with fairy doors after seeing an article in the Washington Post about little doors mysteriously appearing on buildings. Fascinated by them, in around 2002, Susan began creating them herself. She purchases doll house doors and windows, then modifies them. Some are inspired by real places, such as a cafe in the Bahamas, or a door in Lightening Ridge, Australia. Others come from her imagination.
Her “Door into Summer” shows snow on one side,
. . . and a beach on the other.
You can tell which ones she’s made during the last year.
In this one, if you look carefully you can see a Covid molecule through the screen door.
Another warns “No Mask, No Entry.”
A third announces “Quarantine.”
Branching out from her ten to twelve inch Fairy Doors, she is now making even smaller “Teeny Tiny Doors”.
Notice the quarter below the middle door for size comparison.
This house façade is based on the photo of a house in Lightening Ridge, Australia.
As it turns out, other folks are also fascinated by fairy doors. The following accounts appear in Wikipedia.
In 2013, a man and his son placed a one foot high fairy door in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was hand-crafted with stain-finished wood, complete with a drawer-pull door handle and brass hinges. The door was removed by park officials shortly after its installation, but was replaced with a new door due to public outcry.
Across the Bay in Alameda over the next several years, “An urban art movement of tiny doors” was reported to be “hitting the curbs, trees, and public spaces on the Island,” spreading a little whimsy.
In 2015, The Guardian reported that in Wayford Woods, Crewkerne, Somerset, England, about 200 fairy doors made of different materials and by different artists were installed along the woodland trails, leading to an increase of tourists. As the town was unable to deal with the increased tourism and garbage began to accumulate along the woodland trails, the doors were removed by trustees. In 2017, the BBC reported a “fairy control” had been established to halt the tiny doors in Somerset Woods.
Back in the U.S., NPR reported on a series of small doors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that typically replicated the doors of the buildings they were installed on or in.
The downtown area of Putnam, Connecticut, in 2017, sported a dozen fairy doors created by different artists. Connecticut tourism magazines reported that each door was stylized to represent a major American city: New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Nashville, and New Orleans.
Closer to home, OPB reported that Portland, Oregon, had two fairy doors in an unnamed northeast community garden. The doors were said to be housed in a miniature fairy garden within the community garden.
Also in Portland, several doors were installed in the Maricara Natural Area, and were well received by most locals. But the doors were eventually removed by an unknown person posing as a Parks and Recreation worker. They also posted a falsified notice from Parks and Recreation that cited city codes as the reason for the door’s removal, prompting Parks and Recreation to clarify that they did not remove the doors.
A park in Dublin, Ireland, has a fairy tree with a variety of fairy doors, described in a tourism brochure in an article about the nine most enchanting fairy woods to explore around the country.
If you’re in the market for a fairy door, you can hope that Susan will have them on display at the Craft Fair in November. If you don’t want to wait that long, and you’re willing to drive to Portland, I once saw fairy doors for sale in a nursery that area. Or, they can also be purchased online from Amazon, Etsy or Wayfair.
There’s even a store devoted entirely to fairy doors, https://www.thefairydoorstore.com/, which sells “beautifully packaged doors.” Each one comes with a magical golden key.
Or you can make one yourself. Just follow the instructions a DIY site such as this one: https://deavita.net/how-to-make-a-fairy-door-materials-tutorial.html. It advertises “If you build it, Fairies will come.”
