{"id":158767,"date":"2026-05-06T14:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=158767"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:34:23","slug":"square-books-welcomes-local-author-and-photographer-erin-austen-abbott-for-the-launch-of-waterfront-living-tuesday-may-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/square-books-welcomes-local-author-and-photographer-erin-austen-abbott-for-the-launch-of-waterfront-living-tuesday-may-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Square Books Welcomes Local Author and Photographer Erin Austen Abbott for the Launch of Waterfront Living Tuesday, May 12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The book is a beautifully illustrated exploration of the practical and aspirational possibilities of waterside small towns across the U.S.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you&#8217;ve summered in Eastern coastal towns, visited cottages beside the Great Lakes, or dreamed of Pacific Ocean sunsets from your own porch, <em><strong>Waterfront Living<\/strong> <\/em>reintroduces the\u00a0practical and aspirational possibilities of waterside small towns across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beloved waterside destinations can be a great place for those tired of fast paced living or seeking creative inspiration from nature to call home. This book introduces these locations with a stunning\u00a0collection of photographs and testimonials from a diverse array of residents, who share tips on how to transition away from big city life, give back to the community, design personalized living spaces, and encourage artistic and social growth. Author and photographer Erin Austen Abbott profiles couples, individuals, and families celebrating their returns to waterfront hometowns or moves to former vacation destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Waterfront Living <\/em>highlights the rivers and bayous from Arkansas to Oregon, spends time lakeside in the Midwest, traverses oceans, inlets, sounds, and bays on the East and West Coasts, and explores islands off the shores of Seattle and New York City. Tips and sidebars help readers consider the unique opportunities and implications of small town life near the water, from starting a dream business to\u00a0navigating weather and resources. A thoughtful appendix groups dozens of small towns by state, charm, and speciality as well as highlights the best locations for crabbing, sailing, waterside biking, seafood dining, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:41% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"202\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/austen.jpeg?resize=202%2C250&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-158769 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Erin Austen Abbott<\/strong> is an author, freelance writer, and photographer. With dozens of publications featuring her work, some highlights include <em><strong>Wild Sam, Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler, The Atlantic, Southern Living, Garden &amp; Gun, Mississippi Magazine, Edible Memphis, Teen Vogue, Alternative Press, Los Angeles Times, Uppercase, Bake from Scratch, Good Grit Magazine, Esquire, Bitter Southerner, Liquor.com, Imbibe<\/strong>, <\/em>and <em><strong>Bon App\u00e9tit.<\/strong> <\/em>She&#8217;s also a regular contributor to <strong>Yahoo Life<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She is the author of <em><strong>How to Make It, Family Field Trip<\/strong>, <\/em>and <em><strong>Small Town Living<\/strong><\/em>, and now her fourth book, <em>Waterfront Living<\/em>, is out on Running Press. In addition, she contributed to the books <em><strong>Paris by Design, Wild Sam Oxford <\/strong><\/em>edition, and <em><strong>Truth, Love, &amp; Clean Cutlery<\/strong><\/em>. Erin lived in Oxford as a child until the mid-80s, then moved back to the area, settling in <strong>Water Valley<\/strong> in 2005.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14544\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The book is a beautifully illustrated exploration of the practical and aspirational possibilities of waterside small towns across<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":158768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14439,19,8042],"tags":[34552,34535,34537,34541,34532,34534,34531,34539,19959,34540,34546,34543,34542,30400,1362,17571,34549,34548,3580,34536,28436,34551,34538,7082,34530,34533,34545],"class_list":["post-158767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-books","category-local-news","category-local-writers","tag-clean-cutlery","tag-alternative-press","tag-bake-from-scratch","tag-bitter-southerner","tag-conde-nast-traveler","tag-edible-memphis","tag-erin-austen-abbott","tag-esquire","tag-garden-gun","tag-good-grit-magazine","tag-how-to-make-it","tag-imbibe","tag-liquor-com","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-love","tag-mississippi-magazine","tag-paris-by-design","tag-small-town-living","tag-southern-living","tag-teen-vogue","tag-the-atlantic","tag-truth","tag-uppercase","tag-water-valley","tag-waterfront-living","tag-wild-sam","tag-yahoo-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download.jpeg?fit=225%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158767"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158772,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158767\/revisions\/158772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}