Took a walk down my old neighborhood street last week and counted 4 front porches that are now just empty space

I was visiting my parents near the old house I grew up in, over off Maple Avenue. Last week I walked down that same block for the first time in maybe 5 years. There used to be lawn chairs and kids toys on every porch, people sitting out after dinner waving as you went by. Now four of those porches are just bare concrete or have fake columns from the 90s. It hit me that we don't really sit outside and just watch the street pass anymore, we're all inside looking at something else. Has anyone else noticed their own neighborhood losing that front porch feel over the last few years?

3 comments

3 Comments

laura_allen28d ago

Did your friend ever tell you about the time she came home to find a family of raccoons living on her neighbor's old porch? My friend Sarah had this exact thing happen on her street in Oakwood. She moved back after college and the whole block looked different. People used to have those big woven chairs, you know the ones with the cushions that get all faded. Now it's just stoops with nothing. She said it's weird because the houses themselves haven't changed, but nobody sits out there anymore. I think once people stopped sitting out, the porches just became decoration instead of part of the neighborhood life.

sean_torres7128d ago

Yeah I used to think people were just being dramatic about the whole "porches dying out" thing... like who cares if nobody sits outside right? But reading this made me actually think about my own neighborhood. My street used to have these old guys out every evening smoking pipes and waving at kids on bikes. Now everyone just pulls into their garage and the garage door closes like they're sealing themselves in a vault. It's weird because I always figured it was just newer houses being built different but you're right it's the same houses just... empty. The porch isn't really a porch anymore if nobody uses it. Cushions get wet and moldy and people just throw the chairs away instead of replacing them. Makes a place feel hollow.

jessica_robinson2320d ago

Tbh I used to roll my eyes at people talking about porches being a lost thing. I thought it was just nostalgia for some fake version of the past, you know? But reading this and thinking about my own street, it hit me hard. My neighbor's porch has been sitting empty for like three years now, just these rotting chairs nobody bothers to fix. It's not like the house changed or anything, but nobody sits out there anymore and the whole block feels different, quieter. I guess I never realized how much those little moments of people sitting out actually held a neighborhood together. Now it's just driveways and garage doors and I honestly miss it without even knowing I was missing it.