No front porches. My uncle says there used to be front porches. And people sat there sometimes at night, talking when they wanted to talk, rocking, and not talking when they didn’t want to talk. Sometimes they just sat there and thought about things, turned things over. My uncle says the architects got rid of the front porches because they didn’t look well. But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong KIND of social life. People talked too much. And they had time to think. So they ran off with the porches. ~Ray Bradbury
My favorite thing about being a Southerner in the Spring? Sitting on the porch. Or porch sittin, as we say. We are a porch sitting kind of people and I fear it may be a lost art. I’m trying to do my part to preserve this precious slice of Americana because nothing rages against the machine like a few people brave enough to just sit on the porch a while and rock. It’s a place that hovers between reality and fairy land. I suspect it may belong to that other world so I’m holding on for dear life. What if we started a porch sitting revolution? Would you join? Need a few pointers? Here’s how we do it.
We ponder and wonder and listen close to singing birds and lonesome wind.
We read poetry and novels and riveting memoirs.
We prattle on about rhubarb and tulips and nesting tree swallows.
We linger for hours and think about nothing in particular.
We leave hurry and dogma behind and find the last traces of home grown humanity.
We plan our gardens and our futures and our last dying words.
We remember what it was like to jump creeks and climb trees, before the world lost its ever loving mind.
We welcome kids and dogs and slow dancing.
We kick off our boots and our cares and cover ourselves in quilts stitched by saner hands.
We leave a trail of words a country mile long and then nap when we get tired of ciphering.
We watch the sun set and the geese fly and the love settle.
We were brave enough today to sit a while. It takes more courage than you think.
Come on by. We’ll leave the light on.
(And don’t forget some good porch music.)
This post made me smile, my husband and I sit on the front porch of our new home. We listen to the windchimes and watch hummingbirds, and the sunset. We talk, sometimes we don’t, it doesn’t matter either way. Sometimes we just rest heads back on the adirondack chairs and sit with eyes closed and breathe in the air. It’s heaven, on earth, which is exactly what home should be.
The BEST!!
Love this post. So much truth and poetry in it. I think front porches have been replaced by backyard decks and patios. People don’t want to be seen while they relax. They want privacy more than connection to the outside world. And so go our community relationships.
Thank you, Amy!
Nothing makes me smile more than sitting on the porch. Sadly, mine is more like a tiny stoop, but a couple of Adirondack chairs nestled in the front garden is a great alternative.
Yes, it is, Maureen! Enjoy!
Oh yes! Here in Texas there are rockers on the front and back porches. And of course always with a margarita in hand! :))))
Our front porch is very narrow, so we made a place under the pine trees. Table, chairs, swing and a wind chime. We love it! It’s a perfect place for us to eat dinner, relax and wave to the neighbors as they come in from work or take their evening stroll. We do however, have a rebel squirrel who loves to throw pine cones at us. 🙂
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We live in a small town in Missouri and we have a very large wrap around covered porch that I just love. Of course we have rockers, actually my first rockin’ chair game from Crackle Barrel for a Christmas gift from my honey. (I’m wishing for a porch swing) I just love our porch and all the sittin’ we do there, memories are definitely being made!
Soon I’ll be right out there on the porch too! We’re adding on to the house and great big porches are on the list!
I live in Texas and would LOVE a front porch!!!
At home we have a back porch with a swing. It’s pleasant but the best porch is at our mountain house. It’s a big wraparound porch that serves as our primary living space. Hammock, rocking chairs, old fashioned metal spring chairs, glider, wicker chairs and an oversized table with half a dozen ladder back chairs and a long bench. We watch the lake and the kids. We chat with our neighbors who are out walking or biking or driving golf carts. Kids call up for our grandkids to come play. Fifth generation in that house and wouldn’t trade it for anything! Not just porch sitting, but porch living!
My northern husband does not understand the southern blood coursing through my veins. Now I can verbalize why my heart longs for a screened porch addition so badly!
I grew up in a small Appalachian town and porch sitting was a part of the daily schedule. Our house was surrounded by older couples and every day, from the time I was 4 until I was in college, I would make my way around and sit and talk with all of them. I learned so many things on those porches: good tales from our town’s storied past, recipes, decorating, gardening, Scripture, and romantic advice. Even as teens, we’d hang out on the front porch, listen to music, talk about boys and movies and school. How I miss that town. I grieve a little that my kids will never really know small town life like that since we live in a bigger town. A small city, I suppose. But our house has a porch all the way across the front, complete with a swing. And when their Papa from the mountains comes to visit, he sits on the porch and talks to them. So maybe they get a little taste of those delicious moments of slow, summer evenings. There is just something so wonderful to come out of the artificial air conditioned house, about 4 o’clock or after supper at 7 and soak in the warmth and fragrance of nature.
Sounds like heaven, Nancy!
Thanks for sharing.
🙂
I will join the revolution! We live in the North and we have a front and back porch! We love both, but porch sit a lot more out back. We certainly don’t have your view, but love to play out there and talk … one of our favorite places to be when the weather is nice! 🙂
🙂
Oh, how I wish we had a front porch! I would sit on it all the time. Instead I settle for the side deck, but it’s not the same. It’s pretty much the same view as the front of the house, but there’s just something about the quaintness of a front porch.
Well, mine is a side porch too but I love it all the same!!
I loved sitting on the porch as a kid. Neighbours talked to one another. We knew our neighbours and not just the ones who lived a door or two down or across the street but also the ones who lived a block or more away. You may not have known their whole name but you knew “John” or “Mary” who walked past everyday during their daily walk. Today, I enjoy sitting on our front patio and chatting with my neighbours who stop by. I think a curse should be placed on the individuals who “ran off with the porches” and the sense of community that went with it.
I know, it’s a crying shame.
We’ll bring it back!
🙂
I’m in! A porch revolution is just what we need. I would love for the world to stop rolling along at this crazy-fast pace. We would all do better to sit and talk or not on the porch, listen to the birds and the wind, and just breathe. Thanks for the encouragement…and the cool song. xo
🙂
Love the song, too.
That whole album is fabulous!
I remember my parents and grandparents….porch sitting! I live in a small subdivision a couple of miles from town….and all houses except for two (out of about 19) have porches. But…no one has taken up old fashioned porch sitting. I think I will try to start a movement this summer to get folks out onto those porches! Sheila
YES!! You should!
🙂
We have a front porch, but it’s the backyard where we do our sitting. I think it’s because it’s a long skinny porch and I haven’t warmed it up with cozy cushions and sitting apparatus. Plus, it’s far away from the road. We’d have to holler our heads off to speak to the neighbors when they walk by. 😉 But I have all these house plan books and every house I marked has a huge front porch with enough room for tables, too.
I’m kind of obsessed with them myself, Renee!
Love to you.
🙂
I love porches. I don’t have one but in my last home I would sit in my lawn chair in the front yard. Dogs and kids playing, neighbors yacking. When I was a kid we had a small porch. I remember sitting out there with mom & grandma snapping green beans for dinner, sipping on sweet tea, solving the worlds problems. Fun!!
LOVE!
xoxo
Oh how I agree with you! I live in Cali and so need to be in the South. My soul is at rest when I am in the south. Now to convince my husband of that! Love the porch musings. I need to do that more.
Come on down, DeAnna!!
I love this. Brings back memories of growing up at home and sitting on the front porch watching children play or neighbors stopping by to chit chat, enjoying an ice cream, reading. Ahh, I need a porch again!
It was very high on the list when we rebuilt our house.
I’m so thankful for the porches.
Until you get another one, just embrace the porch state of mind!
Moving to Greeneville TN next week to a house with a wrap around porch. You can bank on there being massive porch sittin’. Woohoo!
LOVE the wraparound!!
And you won’t be far from me!
xoxo
I needed to remember this. I live in Phoenix, AZ in the city where we have no front porches and our tiny back patio could hardly be called a porch and yet I have such a longing for porch sitting but you are right. It is hard. Hard to shut off the noise and be alone with our thoughts or even be alone with each other. This is something I am working towards. Sitting and not feeling guilty. Sitting and listening. Sitting and just being.
Wonderful post Edie, thank you!
Heather
I needed the reminder too, Heather.
Much love and hope you can carve out some time.
🙂
In my 1960-70s childhood, before everyone had a window unit a/c, everybody sat on porches in the evening to catch the breeze and socialize. One could here dribs and drabs if neighborhood news wafting through the thick air. I miss the sing song flow of original southern drawl.
We live in a subdivision and there are very few homes with porches. We have one and love it!!! It’s amazing how many neighbors are drawn to ours in the evenings ~ just love it. I take my knitting out and just be…………..:-) Edie, thank you for all of your songs that you are sharing. I grew up with my Daddy and a lot of relatives who come from TX and I never thought I would love listening to that type of country music again, but it takes me back to the days of AM music in the car. Someday I would love to see a list of all your current favorites ~ thx
Hey Edie,
I love a porch, too! My most fondest memories of my husbands grandma’s was sitting on their porch after supper. Just talking and laughing and listening to great stories about how life “used to be”. Oh…to go back to those times. I miss his grandma’s so much, and porch sittin’ with them. 🙂 p.s. i love your sunset view.
blessings,
cindy~
See I knew we were friends all along;) We do lots of porch sittin’ and visitin’ in Charleston, SC…I am all in for a revolution!!! Who knew porch sitting’ could be such a symbolic, lost art…we might even migrate to the yard, front that is, under our live oaks from time to time;) Mandy
Love, love, love this! We have a porch but the front is too narrow for furniture. 🙁 I’m dreaming of making the southern porch usable this year for just what you described. I think, though, that porch is a matter of the mind ~ one couple in the neighborhood pulls their folding chairs out every sunny evening and sit in their driveway (wine glasses in hand) and wave to everyone coming and going. Its SO lovely!!!
Every summer evening, after the 10:00 weather, my grandma and I would go sit on her big front porch swing. She’d tell me stories about her grandfather being a Methodist Cicuit Rider and we’d chat about God and look at the stars. Then I’d lay my head in her lap and while she scratched my back she’d sing old folk songs and hymns until I was too sleepy to hold my eyes open.
My wishlist for my future home included a big porch with a porch swing. 2 years ago we moved in and spend many summer evenings out there on that porch swing with our 3 boys. We eat, sing, read, and just do nothing. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love that you seem just as passionate about this very special part of a home!
Sometimes Edie, you just touch my soul. I always find something to take away from your site. Thank you.
We love our porches too. Often we’ll go out on the front porch in the early morning to talk, have devos together and pray. Sweet times.
We really don’t have front porches in Wyoming. I love that my grandpa sits in a folding lawn chair with his dog just inside his open garage watching as people and cars go by. Every time I think of him, the image of him driveway sitting is all I see. He would really love a wraparound porch with a view of the mountains.
Love, love the porch sittin’ pointers! ‘We leave hurry and dogma behind and find the last traces of home grown humanity’ is my favorite.’ I may have your pointers framed and displayed on my new porch (with your permission) and if some ask who is Edie Wadsworth; I’ll tell them the talented writer from East Tennessee! Happy porch sitting this spring!
This is awesome Edie. Before I finished reading this post, I emailed some of my girlfriends and set up a Porch Sitting at my house for Monday April 28th. You are invited!
Love this idea. Thank You.
Cathy
I remember sitting on the front porches at our home and my Grandma’s home in the middle of the night during thunder and lightening storms…eating date nut bread sandwiches. I miss having a porch.
I love my front porch and my rocking chair! I have a little rocking chair for grandchild visitors too! My home of origin had no front porch – just a little stoop, so we sat on the redwood furniture in the backyard – we had no patio either –just another stoop! I do remember my great-grandparents and my grandmother’s front porches though–They had porch wings!
Hey there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll definitely
digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this site.
Lawsie mercy woe-man ya’ve got me hankering hard after that spread of tulips and to think I was gonna say coveting (cough, cough) rocking to the rhythm of the rain but wouldn’t it be nice to sit a spell with you
YES-YES-YES 🙂 I love porches! I remember my Grandmothers porch very well. I used to love jumping off it as a kid- trying to fly- the screen doors slamming going in and out-I remember when her house was remodeled, she had it glassed in. With sliding glass doors and screens. Whole different concept- She put these lounge chairs out there, I would lay out there with her & get her to tell me stories-Our house now has a front and back porch. The back is where I spend my time though. Little twinkle lights and a fountain with running water. I love the sound of it- Our neighbors have porches and they use them regularly. I always go over & sit and visit and talk 🙂 Its a bit chilly again now so no one is porch sitting tonight. Thanks Edie- your porch always looks so inviting. Right now ours are still coated in pollen and winter dirt- after this next good rain it will be time to clean them 🙂 Happy porch sitting…
Our first home had a wonderful front porch that I remember fondly and miss desperately! There was nothing more inviting sitting on the porch swing, listening to kids play in the early summer twilight, drinking lemonade, and just relaxing. But that was years ago… what feels like a lifetime ago. Now our house is porchless in an area where few, if any spend time on their front porches. Hanging out at the pools in their backyards maybe, but not out front where they can socialize with others. Each one has built an imaginary cutting them off from the world… you know I think I’m going to have to try and talk my sweet hubby into retiring to the south. I mean his time with the military is coming close to an end and the “baby” will graduate in 3 years. Why not make the move! And to think the subject of front porches is what started this train of thought!! 🙂 Enjoy your lovely front porch!!
I love all of your posts, but this one packs a wallop. Porch sitting is more than just putting yourself in a physical location. It involves a whole different mindset because you intentionally pull away from all the things the world says are important (busyness and electronics for example) to tend to the soul. Just sitting still is practically unheard of in our times. Imagine that! I am saving this article to quote on my blog later. Kudos!
Edie, I hear ya – love this post. I am Southern-born, raised and here ’til the end and a porch is a big part of my Southern life 🙂 I am quite obsessed with my porch and I have blogged about my porch love affair: http://www.madebymolliesmom.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-dont-transition-well.html and here :http://www.madebymolliesmom.blogspot.com/2012/08/i-love-my-porch.html
I have a lot to say about my porch, it seems! I think porches are important to family time. We have spent so many wonderful and important moments as a family on our porch – just us or with family and friends.
I’m glad you posted about your porch – i love to see and read about others who love their Southern porches!!
Marcie
I just downsized from a large, 115 year old house with a wonderful porch, to a smaller new house with no front porch. My porch had a wonderful swing and wicker chairs. It’s where everyone chose to gather. I loved swinging on the swing and saying hello to all my neighbors as they walked by. Lots of “porch visiting!” Now, everyone drives into their garage and sit on their back deck. Not much neighborly visiting going on. I will remember my porch, fondly!
We just sporadically moved 4 miles away from what we thought was our forever home. We left the neighborhood of houses to buy a house on a few acres with a BIG FRONT PORCH! Love your words about porches. It is just amazing what it feels to sit on a porch….more amazing when you sit on a porch in the country! The sounds sound better too!!!
I love porch sittin’ so much, I have six porches on my home. And of course a swinging bed on an upstairs porch where I take Sunday afternoon naps. I escape there somedays when I decide I don’t want to do housework or chores. On my back porch, I sit out there with my little dog, Rudy, and watch the golfers go by and critique their golf swing. Lots of times I giggle when they hit their ball in the water and throw their club in frustration. I bought a new swing this week (Carolina Pottery is going out of business-sad) to hang on my front porch. My husband asked if I plan on sitting out there. I’m sure I will to watch the cars go by and the joggers and walkers and moms pushing their babies in strollers. Hmmm, no wonder I never get anything done.
Edie, I loved this post! We are big porch sitters at my house! We are empty nesters now so my husband and I sit on our screened in porch every night, we eat dinner out there too! I love these nights out there. Some night we are talking up a storm , then others we are just listening to the birds. Good times!!! Love, love, love your blog!!!
Simply put …thank you ! I have fought so long to keep our lives from swirling out of control and I read this blog and realized that I am fighting for what I crave, what we need is more porch time and somehow this blog of your gave me permission to do what should be a part of the fabric of our lives. I am grabbing a quilt and heading out ….to the front porch !
Remember the old Andy Griffith Show? Andy, Opie, Aunt Bea and Barney on the porch. Andy strumming the guitar and humming a tune, Aunt Bea knitting –a bit of heaven on earth.
Fantastic website you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any
community forums that cover the same topics talked about here?
I’d realloy like to be a part of group where I can get opinions from other
knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
If you have any recommendations, plkease let me know. Thanks!
Yes, I too love to sit alone and just think about things and spend some special time with myself.