Porch past times

Again I am back to porches. Several good comments yesterday. We have abandoned our porches -- we just don't build them to any degree any more -- in favor of our back yard -- all walled in with fences.

This is my type of porch, with the curved setting at the end. Some have the setting at both ends. I've seen it referred to as Classic Revival and as being popular around the turn of the century -- not this century, the last one (1900+).

I know that air conditioning has let us de-emphasize porches -- that place where you would sit and visit while the house cooled down. But, these seemed to have gone out of style long before.

It took a special craftsman to the make the curved bannisters and the columns, so it may have been and economic thing.

Still, they speak of a certain grace and certain time when we would spend more resources on a place that fostered visiting, sharing, and passing time together in a quite tranquil setting.

--steve buser