The Front Porch Players came in from the cold to celebrate the season in the front parlor of the Sands-Willets House last Saturday night.
Their repertoire is a familiar mix of popular and folk tunes with an emphasis on audience participation.
Music is a shortcut to our personal histories. Indeed, we were all transported back in time by a rousing rendition of “Under the Boardwalk.”
I must say that Colin Wiggins and I were particularly forceful in the bass section of the chorus.
The Front Porch Players got started almost 20 years ago when Linn Johnson brought some friends together to make music.
They got their first gig on the front porch of the Science Museum overlooking Leeds Pond. I don’t think it’s entirely by chance the name stuck.
Porches were typical of houses built in the later 19th century and early 20th.
You can date a neighborhood by simply walking around and observing the presence of front porches. On Mill Pond Road, for example, I counted 17 out of 21 homes with a front porch.
They were a gathering place for families to relax and socialize with neighbors. Some of those families provided musical entertainment.
With the coming of the automobile, television, air conditioning, and sophisticated music reproduction, the porches fell out of favor. An unfortunate by-product was a weakening of our sense of community.
The good news is that builders say porches are making a comeback.
In fact, the Cow Neck Historical Society has set a goal to raise $100,000 to make a historic restoration of its own front porch at the Sands-Willets House.
I look forward to singing along with the Front Porch Players back where they belong next year at our Fall Fair.
Ross Lumpkin is a trustee at the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, www.cowneck.org
