Saturday, October 15th issue of the Times Picayune highlights a Mid-City Porch which will be a stop on the upcoming MCNO Porch Crawl on October 21st. Read an excerpt from the article below or Click Here for the Full Article.
Mid-City porch is always the center of family activity
ALL IN THE FAMILY: The house that Carol Kramer and her husband live in today has been in her family for almost 160 years. “My great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather came over from Montespan, France, in 1854 and bought this house,” Kramer says. “There has been a descendant living here ever since.”
The Kramer family porch gallery (6 photos)The house was originally part of the family’s dairy farm, a property that Kramer says stretched from City Park Avenue (then called Metairie Road), along North Hennessey Street, all the way to Dumaine Street.
The dairy was eventually divided into lots — possibly when Kramer’s grandfather died in the 1920s — and sold off.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone in the family left the area.
“I live a block away on the corner and our sister Catherine Waguespack lives next door to Carol,” said Liz Boudreaux, one of Kramer’s younger sisters.
“Two sons live within blocks, and it seems like all the grandchildren want to come back to the city now.”
Kramer credits her husband, Jack, with the foresight to buy the house from Shreveport cousins when they did.
“It was the early ’70s, and everyone was moving to Kenner, all my friends,” Kramer said. “But Jack wanted to live in this house. He grew up in this neighborhood, too, and said he always loved it. So we moved in with our six children, and a year later, his mother moved in with us.”
********
MID-CITY PORCH CRAWL
WHAT: Visit the Kramers’ porch and five others in the Mid-City neighborhood; food and drink will be offered. For adults; costumes are encouraged.
WHEN: Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Meet at Ralph’s on the Park, 900 City Park Ave.; afterward, groups return to Ralph’s for an after-party.
WHY: The Porch Crawl is the primary fundraiser for the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization.
TICKETS: Advance tickets: $35, members; $45, nonmembers; day-of: $45, members; $55 nonmembers. Available at www.mcno.org/home/porchcrawl/