We have a small front porch at our house where we have squeezed two rocking chairs and a wicker love seat amid the jungle of Nancy’s assorted house plants. We don’t sit on the porch often, mostly when it rains. It rained hard yesterday afternoon, and we found our way to the porch where we sat quietly, watching the cars move up and down the street, some faster than others. We also watched the birds visit our front yard feeder and enjoyed the chorus of nearby tree frogs as they celebrated the arrival of much needed rain. Patiently we sat, watching, listening, and waiting for the power to come back on.
There was once a time when front porches were a focal point of every family’s life. Everybody had a porch and most everybody sat outside. Dinner was over, the kitchen was still hot, and there was no air conditioning. Folks moved to the porch where cigarettes were lit, coffee was poured, and an occasional batch of homemade ice cream was churned into a rich and cold concoction.
Front porches were the “social media” of the 40s and 50s. Neighbors connected, families were connected, and the summer evenings passed gently into the night.
I can remember the front porch on our house in Sewell Avenue in Raleigh when I was about 4. Mom and I had lost my father, James Brewer in World War II right before I was born. But on some Sunday evenings, Mom had gentlemen callers. One was Daddy George, the only father I would ever know. I was often allowed to join the couple on the porch and reveled in this man’s stories. He told me about his pet hog on his farm in Saratoga and how he would talk to the pig, and it talked back. He told me about the time his mule kicked him in the head and knocked him out cold. He told me that he loved eating leftover cold potatoes when he and the farm hands came in for lunch. He told me he would be my Daddy
The first house we bought in Beckley also had a porch, but we rarely used it. Porch life lost its popularity about the time air conditioning became common and today few houses have spacious front porches. People stay inside most of the time and neighbors keep to themselves.
If we had more front porches these days where people would gather, I think the world would be a better place.