The Conference On The Front Porch

We are thrilled to announce our participation with The Conference On The Front Porch October 18-19 at The Mill at Plein Air in Taylor, Mississippi. This is the second annual Conference On The Front Porch. The conference aims to explore the significance of the front porch in the American South, both from an architectural, as well as a sociological, perspective. The two day conference explores the origins of the front porch, its role in building and sustaining community, the porch and food, the porch and music, and the porch and its impact on the story-telling tradition in the South. All of these topics and more will be explored. In addition to the lectures and panels, registration includes six meals, a one evening porch concert and a one evening porch play.

The two day conference takes place in a beautiful 12,000 square foot venue built entirely from reclaimed materials and located in the Plein Air neighborhood of Taylor, Mississippi which is a short seven minute drive from Oxford and Ole Miss. Our initial involvement with this conference was through the founder, Campbell McCool. Campbell sourced almost 100% of the salvaged building materials for the venue from Southern Accents. Last year, team member Jason Mauldin was in the area speaking to a class at Ole Miss on the history of architectural elements and represented Southern Accents at the first Conference On The Front Porch. This year SA owner, Garlan Gudger, Jr. will be one of 12 speakers at the highly anticipated event. Garlan will be speaking on the topic of “The Front Porch and Pickin’ Architectural Elements” on Thursday, October 19.

The conference is open to architects, developers, planners, social historians, and lovers of all things porch. Conference schedule, speaker information, as well as ticket purchases can be obtained by visiting theconferenceonthefrontporch.com.

Mauldin Goes To Mississippi

Recently, SA team member Jason Mauldin ventured over to Oxford, Mississippi to speak at Ole Miss and to attend The Conference On The Front Porch at Plein Air in Taylor, Mississippi. Journalism and marketing professor Mark Dolan asked Mauldin to speak to his integrated marketing class about the benefits of deeper story telling in marketing. Everything we do at Southern Accents has a story that we are preserving, so it was an excellent fit for one of our own story tellers to be a professor for the day. We look forward to continuing a relationship with Dr. Dolan and hope to return soon to expand on our initial visit.

 

Just outside of Oxford is the lovely town of Taylor, Mississippi. In that small town is a wonderful new community called Plein Air. Every one of the homes there is required to have a front porch, so it was the perfect setting for a conference dedicated to the impact of front porches. We spoke with the founder of the Plein Air community, Campbell McCool, about his philosophy on the front porch. Campbell said, “the front porch lends itself to community and getting to know your neighbors, unlike suburbia where everyone runs inside and locks the door.” Some of the topics discussed at the conference included the history and cultural significance of the front porch from Ancient Greece to modern America. Other discussions included the sociological importance of the front porch, the front porch and politics, stylistic evolutions of the porch and its architectural significance and much more. Lovers of all things architectural and story telling, we knew we wanted to attend. Folks came from as far away as Texas and Canada to participate in the two day conference held in the Plein Air community chapel, which was constructed almost 100% from salvaged materials from Southern Accents! You can find out more about this conference, which will be an ongoing event, by visiting them at theconferenceonthefrontporch.com. It is great opportunities and collaborations like this that make us #digmygig.

The community chapel at Plein Air was constructed almost entirely of salvaged materials from Southern Accents.

These magnificent doors are just one of the architectural elements that SA supplied for the chapel.

Everything from salvaged wood for the walls and floors to lights and windows for this beautiful chapel was acquired from Southern Accents.

The chapel has become a popular venue for weddings and community events.