One of the most recognizable facets of American architecture from the eighteenth century through the 1940s was “the front porch.” A nice place to sit on a cool evening following a warm summer day seems logical and well-thought out. America was once a wild, earthy place where individuals yearned for freedoms and ached to break away from repression. Perhaps the front porch served as a transition zone…, attached to a civilized home was an outdoor extension that reached out toward earth and sky and a world that was once untouched by man, greed, or hate.
Folks out on their evening walks might stop and chat to catch up on the happenings in your world and share what had transpired in theirs. The front porch: a place to be free, to gather information, and let go of a little steam.
Sadly, the front porch has been successfully disappearing over the last seventy years. I recently stopped by a new housing development near my home that was getting ready to open the next phase. The home prices had dropped about $400,000 over the last two years and I thought I would take a look. One of the models had a wannabe porch; a poor attempt at trying to recapture the feel and look of its much earlier predecessor. It was a nice sentiment and I really wanted it to work, but it just didn’t.
We gather here to meet and greet, to learn from like-minded individuals, to trade tricks, and to further connect with other humans in a world that, due to advancing technology, gets smaller and smaller…, That same technology drives us further away from human contact – who needs it, right?
I have contended and will continue to do so, that this, social media, is the new front porch. So stop by and chat awhile, learn a bit about the neighbors, and maybe even offer to help mend a fence or two. Take a load off. The breeze is cool, the bugs are few, and the conversation is great.
“Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them. The great American porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time.” ~Davida Rochlin in HOME SWEET HOME
Sit for a spell, won’t ya?
by rayannethorn
The New Front Porch 