Life is good…just a ‘settin’ on the pizer’

In the Down East section of Carteret County, they call a porch a pizer. Storyteller Rodney Kemp tells us a pizer is a shortened form of the fancy Italian word “piazza.” 

Down Easters often truncate words, change vowel sounds and sometimes add “r” after vowels. Such is the case in the formation of the word “pizer.”

 

For the record, great Americans George Washington and Thomas Jefferson referred to their majestic porches at Mount Vernon and Monticello, respectively, as piazzas.

The most famous front porch in America is here at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan.

Porches continue to be an important structural feature in the South, and several initiatives have been formed to “promote front porch culture as a way to build and strengthen communities.” 

The belief is that “with front porches, neighbors know each other better, which leads to greater community cohesion. Front porches increase friendliness and decrease isolation.”

 

“Porching” is the proper term for the activity known as sitting on the porch and socializing with family, friends and/or neighbors. 

Julia Steffen of the Woodsong neighborhood in Shallotte, N.C., said: “If the kitchen is the heart of our house, the porch is its soul. Inside the house is where the tasks of daily living that seem to grow by the day get checked off the list. But outside, we porch to return to those things that really matter.” 

Some of the best front porches in Carteret County are found within the historic district of Beaufort. It is here that one is introduced to the color of “haint blue.” It’s a pale blue shade that is often seen adorning the porch ceilings of coastal homes.

 

“Haint” is a Southern variation of haunt, meaning a ghost or spirit. Beaufort is “ghost central.” Martha Barnes, queen of the local hospitality industry, tells visitors: “Many of our old homes are haunted. This is such a wonderful place to live, that when people die, they still want to hang around.” 

According to paranormal legend, “frustrated spirits, caught between life and death, cannot cross water. Hence, pale blue ceilings that mimic the color of water keep spirits from entering a house.” 

Anne Roderique-Jones moved from New York City to New Orleans, La., in order to have a porch. She told readers of Town & Country magazine:

 

“In New York City, a person can go an entire lifetime without speaking to another human in their building,” she wrote. “That came as something of a shock to me, having been raised in the Ozarks, where everyone on the block knows your business.” 

“The porch is an arm of your home that extends to the outside world; it’s often how you meet neighbors and make friends. The first order of business was to hang a swing, made by a woodworker in Alabama. He painted it bright white and carved in the most genius invention: a slot for wine glasses on each arm,” Roderique-Jones said. 

“We fashioned an outdoor living space layered with a rug, tables, rocking chairs and colorful pillows.” 

Several years ago, Stephen Elmore of Pfafftown, N.C. (in Forsyth County), became a “professional porch sitter” and formed an organization. Membership is free. The group’s motto is: “Whatever you’re doing, it can wait. Take a load off and come sit (or set) a spell.”

The sixth annual Conference on the Front Porch is coming up Oct. 28-30 in Taylor, Miss., near Oxford and the University of Mississippi. Topics address all various aspects of “better porching.” 

It should come as no surprise…country music is interlaced throughout the entire conference schedule of events.