More photos & ideas...LOVE old homes & porches!

I love looking at older homes because of their beauty and ornate detail...I've heard many people say "They just don't build homes like they used to." I feel like we are moving away from these "old fashioned" ideals of sitting on the front porch and taking time to sit awhile and chat with family, friends, and neighbors. I grew up in an old home, which originally belonged to my great-great grandma Mary. (I will have to take a picture of it and post later)it was used as a photo studio after we moved out, and then it was sold and turned into a daycare, which is fitting I suppose, seeing as so many kids in the neighborhood used to gather there. The most cherished memories I have are chatting with my mom, sisters, cousins, friends, and Grandma Ingersoll with her hanky in her sleeve sitting on the front porch swing. My giant Grandpa Ingersoll, who always smelled like a mixture of Old Spice, coffee, and bacon who used to come into the kitchen to straighten and soothe his bent back on the radiator there. I miss those days and slower times, and I guess that's why I long to bring them back for my own family.

Speaking of which, here is an exerpt from a study done on The American Front Porch taken from (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am483_97/projects/cook/cultur.htm)
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"The twilight was blurred and soft. Supper was almost ready and the smell of cabbage floated to them from the open hall. All of them were together except Hazel, who had not come home from work, and Etta, who still lay sick in bed. Their Dad leaned back in the chair with his sock-feet on the bannisters. Bill was on the steps with the kids. Their Mama sat on the swing fanning herself with the newspaper. Across the street a girl in the neighborhood skated up and down the sidewalk on one roller skate. The lights on the block were just beginning to be turned on, and far away a man was calling someone." --From McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, in Out on the Porch


The Cultural Significance of the American Front Porch

"In many ways, the front porch represented the American ideal of family. The porch, in essence, was an outdoor living room, where the family could retire after the activities of a long day. In the evenings, as the outdoor air provided a cool alternative to the stuffy indoor temperatures, the entire family would move to the front porch. The children might play in the front yard or the friendly confines of the neighborhood, while the parents rocked in their chairs, dismissing the arduous labors and tasks of the day into relaxation and comfort. Stories might be told, advice garnered, or songs sung. Whatever the traditions and manners of the family might be could be offered in this setting. What the family room or t.v. room of post World War II America would become, existed first as the front porch. As stated in an introductory quote, the front porch was truly "a place for family and friends to pass the time"(Out on the Porch 65).

The American front porch further represented the ideal of community in America. For the front porch existed as a zone between the public and private, an area that could be shared between the sanctity of the home and the community outside. It was an area where interaction with the community could take place. For "the master's farm business, the mistress's selections of goods and produce, the home craftsmen's sales, and sundry negotiations of the cooler sort (with the hired man, the foreman, the slave or house servant, the distressed or disgruntled neighbor, even with the unpredictable stranger from the muddy road) could all be conducted in the civil atmosphere offered by the shade of a prominent porch, apart from the sleeping and feeding quarters and without serious risk to the family's physical and psychic core"(Out on the Porch 1). The porch further fostered a sense of community and neighborliness. In the evenings, as people moved outdoors, the porch served to connect individuals. The neighbors from next door might stop by one's house, to sit on the porch and discuss both personal and community issues. The couple walking down the street might offer a passing "hello," as they passed house after house whose inhabitants rested outdoors. The porch brought the neighborhood and community together, by forcing interaction and an acute awareness of others. Indeed, the front porch and the ideal of community in America had developed into a congruous union.

Between the rise of the front porch in the middle nineteenth century and its decline in the post World War II era, the front porch developed a cultural significance. It represented the cultural ideals of family, community, and nature. As these ideals would decline in importance in American culture, so would the porch.

In the period immediately before and after World War II, the American front porch became a relic of the past, an architectural feature and cultural symbol no longer important to Americans. The technological and social forces that initiated this change will be explored in this section.

The primary technological change that spurred this developing abandonment of the front porch was the proliferation of the American automobile. The growing numbers of automobiles in America, its expansional use by different classes, and its growing use as a means of transporation flooded the American streets and roadways with cars. As a result, "the front porch was no longer an idyllic setting where one could relax and commune with nature," for the "exhaust fumes and the noise of a steady stream of cars and trucks had rendered it inhospitable and unhealthy"(Kahn 5). The automobile further created a new enclave and setting of towns and cities: suburbia. Automobiles allowed for Americans to move further distances from their workplace to build homes on less expensive property. The "automobile-dependent suburbs"(Kahn 5) did not feature front porches, due to the omnipresence of the automobile. Thus, as technology had helped to develop the front porch, by the mid twentieth century it was leading to its decline.

The new technological development of air conditioning further aided in the decline of the front porch. Providing a cool environment indoors, the front porch was no longer needed as a cool shaded area during the day or as a place to enjoy the cool night air. Families remained indoors comfortably, and a primary use of the front porch was no longer needed. Air conditioning, in a sense, also contributed to another technological development which would affect the front porch: the television. The television, which could exist only inside, provided endless hours of entertainment indoors. As a result, family life shifted from the porch to a family room or t.v. room, where families could watch the evening news, sporting events, or the early sitcoms, all while enjoying the newly invented "t.v. dinner." No longer would families relax outside on the front porch.

It has been heretofore suggested that a change in cultural ideals further aided in the decline of the front porch. Many of these cultural changes were the result of the technological changes outlined in this section. Certainly, Americans declining ideal with nature was a result of new technological developments such as the automobile. Yet, culture had changed on its own as well, aside from technological developments, further contributing to the decline of the front porch. The American ideal for community certainly had declined during this period. The specific reasons for such change must be left to the anthropologists or sociologists, yet America had become overtly more individualistic and less community oriented. This change helped to eliminate porches, and the elimination of porches further accelerated this trend. At the same time, the traditional American importance given to the family had declined. Familial structure and relations had changed, lending to less family interaction and family time. While this connection to the decline of the front porch is a stretch, it certainly may have played a role.

By the 1960's, the front porch had disappeared in the new architectural forms and houses sweeping the country. Technological and cultural forces had pushed porches to the back or side yard, or had eliminated them altogether. American society had changed, and with this change the front porch no longer stood as an American cultural symbol. Few Americans noticed this change, and the front porch disappeared into the realm of American memory. Not until the late 1980's and 1990's would the front porch be missed.
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