Avalon Cottage is a small wood-frame building built sometime between 1900 and 1910 on Seven Mile Island. Measuring 8'5" by 14'5", it retains its original clapboard siding and original wooden front door. Its construction date is based on the use of round-headed wire nails introduced about 1888, along with exposed rafter ends and 2/2 windows common in the early 1900s. Small structures like this served as temporary living quarters on Seven Mile Island, and its design and construction resemble houses used by Life Saving crew members in Avalon. A number of such buildings were constructed and placed near the 15th Street Life Saving Station, where locals came to call the group of houses Shanty Town. Buildings of this kind provided housing for laborers, fisherman and servants in the early 20th century and normally had no electrical service, plumbing, or heat. Although it is believed to be original to Seven Mile Island, its first location and exact use are not known. At some point it was placed behind the church formerly located at 17th and Dune Drive and used for storage. It was later moved to the History Center in the early 2000s and restored to its original appearance in 2015. Structures like this were an important part of late 19th- and early 20th-century domestic architecture in resort and beach communities.