A Front Porch is a State of Mind

Front Porch is a State of Mind

What does a front porch mean to me? It's the place where I go to find myself when the world is bearing down on me. It's a place where I get in tune with myself and myself in tune with nature. It's a place where I can sit and think where I can read in peace or where I can be joined by a neighbor for a cup of tea. It's my outdoor living room for at least 6 months of the year. That is one of the wonders of living in Southwest Alabama. We have all the seasons, but in moderation. There are even days in the winter when we can comfortably be on the front porch. I really could stretch it to say that we can be on the porch for 9 months of the year, but I don't want to brag too much, or you'll all want to move here. We would love to have you visit but if you all came here to live; the front porch might not be as peaceful anymore. Right now we are the place that time forgot. We have a slower pace of living that gives us time to be who we are without having to wear our workday roles on the weekends or our dress up clothes all the time. As I write this, it is a sunny, cool Saturday morning. I am sitting in my sunroom wearing my favorite robe, listening to my favorite music, drinking flavored coffee as I write this. I am in no hurry to do anything.


Isn't it great to have day with no shoulds in it? I should be doing something constructive. I should be working on something…. all those things that make us prisoners of our own expectations. To really stay who we are, we have to have a quiet day every so often. I call them mental health days. If I have one of those, I don't have to get sick to get a rest day. Do you realize that we do that to ourselves? When we don’t voluntarily take time for ourselves, our bodies will do it for us. I try to take time off before that happens.

Our region is famous with hunters. They think they come here just to kill animals, but I have news for them. I have listened to them over the years and learned a few things. What they really come for is the peace and quiet. They come for the chance to be in nature. They come for the informality of the living in hunting camps, wearing camouflage or other baggy clothes and not shaving. They come for the quiet evenings where they sit by the campfire or curl up to read books. They drink beer and watch sports in their underwear if they want to. They are with like-minded spirits who share their values. They don't have to please anybody but themselves. A front porch is something most hunting camps have, even if the camp is a mobile home planted in a thicket, because it is a chance to be in nature and to be informal. The front porch is where the hunting stories are told and the bourbon is sipped. The front porch is the symbol of our region because it says a lot about who we are. We share a sense of community with each other and our neighbors, while at the same time respecting our own need for quiet time in nature. The front porch connects us to each other and to nature as well as our own soul selves.


You are welcome to join us. We in Southwest Alabama are famous for our hospitality. Just don't move here unless you share the same values and the same needs. We don’t want to change our way of life too fast. We like who we are and think you will, too.

For more information call:

Linda Vice @ (334) 636-5506

Or email linda.tourism@yahoo.com

We can arrange a trip here for a day of a season. While you are in Gulf Shores, We're only a couple of hours away. Come sit on our front porch!


For more information on tourism in rural southwest Alabama, please refer to the main Alabama's Front Porches website!

Remembering Lucrethia

After 93 years, a legend is gone. My friend Lucrethia Cairl has gone to meet her maker. When she was 85 years old. Her family thought they would surprise her with a birthday party. She came in dressed up in her Sunday dress, wearing elaborate jewelry and stiletto high heels. She came in with a look of surprise that could only be well rehearsed. She was a bit too surprised, flinging her arms wide with surprise and exclaiming with high pitched squeals of glee. We had been friends for a number of years, so I took her aside later in the party and said that was an academy award winning performance. How did you know?".

Her reply was "When your son-in-law has been your son-in-law for 27 years and he ain't never taken you to ride, comes by and says 'let's go riding', you know something's up." She was always that savvy. She had to be. She raised her children during the depression as a black single mother. She made her living as a cook, mostly at the Alabama Grill. It was the local landmark and watering hole,of which one local father said when his son was ready for college "I'm not going to send him to college, I'm going to send him to the Alabama Grill. He can learn everything he needs to know there anyway."

Lucrethia taught me a lot about cooking just by listening to her. She was a narrative cook. She had a story for every recipe. Not only did she teach me to put bell pepper into my dressing along with the standard onions and celery, but she taught me to stir it to get it to set, instead of putting in a number of eggs to do the job. She said that years ago, hens didn't lay many eggs except in the spring time, so the eggs had to be saved for the holiday cakes where they were really needed. To get the dressing to set, the cook had to stir it around in the baking pan to get the texture right. Her dressing was the best I ever had, right up there with her chicken pie. The highest compliment she could pay anybody was to make them a chicken pie. Like most of the cooks in our rural south, Lucrethia equated cooking with love. We feed those we love. It is our favorite way of honoring those we love. I guess that's why we call it soul food.

I knew that Lucrethia and I had a real bond when she made me a chicken pie. She used to make it regularly at the Alabama Grill as a lunch special. She worked there until she was in her eighties.

At the surprise birthday party, Lucrethia had to make a speech. One of her daughters introduced her. The daughter said that members of the family have always been told that their mama could out walk them and out talk them any day of the week. Lucrethia proved the point by strutting around the room on her high spiked heels before she started her speech. Then she strutted to the middle of the room. She gave credit for her good health and vitality to her skills as a root doctor. She made up a potion consisting of various herbs and turpentine which she dosed herself with daily. She had never been sick she said and it was all due to her root potion. Something certainly worked. She was the highest stepper as well as the best cook in town. Her positive attitude didn't hurt either. Lucrethia will be missed both for her vital presence and her famous chicken pie. Although her presence is no longer among us, her chicken pie lives on. She shared her cooking skills with all her daughters and with others who loved her. She shared a bit of her soul with us, which we still turn into chicken pies and dressing with bell pepper in it.