Front Porches and Southern Hospitality

                       What is it about the Front Porch that is so Southern iconic? Its shade is pleasing and coolly inviting. An expansive porch once wrapped around the non-air-conditioned house to preserve the cool of evening for the main house, well into the mid-day.


July, 1929

                Architectural designs throughout the South often encompass a front porch, a Southern staple, as much as a tomato and cucumber summer salad.
                 For moonlight and magnolia southerners, the Front Porch served as the stage for flirting, memory making and generational stories. Many a tentative Romeo has stolen a kiss while “just swinging” on Juliet’s front porch. 
      My growing-up family home had a front porch, a back porch, and a sleeping porch. We called it “the big house.” Front porch weather summoned us outside for “porch sitting.”  A cool breeze might saunter by as family gathered to share the day’s encounters.
                             When our family moved to our first “neighborhood,” our house also had a front porch. Sitting under the ceiling fan, my parents and grandparents, neighbors, too, watched us cavort across the neighboring yards and into the streets, often calling out, “Watch that car!”
                        Sometimes we kids talked and laughed while sitting on the curb until the mosquitos became vultures.  A screened front porch extended porch sitting well into the evening so there could be conversation sans mosquitos.
                       In our neighborhood, we grew up under the watchful eye of a front porch sentinel, our own version of Mrs. Gladys Kravitz.  Keeping watch from her Front Porch perch, she saw everything. Because this neighbor would not only see all, but tell all, some of us were cautious in our behavior. 

                  Comments about “curb appeal” now come from those who drive or stroll by our homes. Living beyond the front door, porch, and sidewalk, the community senses welcome from the family who dwells within a house with a pleasing front porch area. Perhaps that is why many families today continue front porch hospitality traditions rather than the more private backyard venue.
           Back yards, patios, decks, and privacy fencing have moved our porch sitting habits to a more secluded area. Fancy outdoor living spaces include grilling kitchens, private swimming pools, landscaping and outdoor lighting located in the rear of the home. The ambiance for a marvelous experience exudes hospitality, but nothing replicates the inviting community feel of a beautiful front porch and the family that welcomes us to join them for some “porch sitting.”