An ode to the front porch in Daydreaming on the Porch

I cannot even imagine living in a house without a front porch, the bigger the better. And it should have at least a couple of rockers, a swing, ceiling fan and maybe some bright red flower boxes full of geraniums. I love to sit and rock on my front porch whether it’s 3 in afternoon or 3 in the morning. Totally different kinds of mood and atmosphere prevail at those times, but I can equally enjoy anytime out there in the fresh air in the still of an afternoon, or in the deep silence of an early morning encounter with the world outside my pandemic quarantined life.

It used to be that every house had a porch. The heyday of the front porch was the 1880s through the mid 1920s. After that the traditional meaning and significance of porches began to decline as households in later decades shifted outdoor life to the back patio, deck or lawn. In days long before the Internet changed just about everything, porches were where families congregated to see the passing parade of life in the streets and on sidewalks, and to be seen in turn by neighbors and the occasional strangers. By the 1950s through the early 1980s you never saw new houses with porches, but then during the past three decades there’s been a porch renaissance as new houses adopted more traditional architectural styles from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I love porches and have enjoyed photographing them for more than 40 years.

One of my first online diary entries from August 1998 included this passage about my long-time affinity for porches:

Porches and sidewalks hearten back to a time when everyone wasn’t bottled up inside behind closed doors in air-conditioned units watching TV in every room of the house. The porch is like an additional room, but one that is open and inviting and faces the street where you welcomed fiends and neighbors. The porch was where you could be gently lulled to sleep in a swing hanging from the ceiling, or in a rocking chair worn and smooth with the passage of time. Under the softly whirring ceiling fan you and neighbors, family, or relatives might talk away into the night, listening to leaves rustling occasionally and watching fireflies flicker on and off in the darkness.

Here is an album of some favorite photos of houses with porches:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/camas/it99aQ

Last updated December 15, 2020