Rufus Porter House
For the last couple of months we as a family have been holding Family Home Evening every Monday. When it was just Sunny and I it was hard to see the value in FHE, but now that Porter is older and able to go out and play and have fun, just about anywhere we go can be an adventure.
Because we bought an old house, I have become more aware of old homes in the surrounding towns. People at work have been telling me about Fullerton. After a quick internet search, I found the Porter House and because we have a Porter, it was a definite must see.
The house is a wood framed grove house and is now the oldest home existing in Fullerton. Originally built by John Kerr in 1882, the home first stood in the midst of a vineyard. The growing of grapes subsequently changed to apricots, plums, walnuts, and during the first decade of the century switched to oranges.
Rufus Porter, son of pioneer rancher Benjamin Porter, bought the property in 1919, and the orange productions continued on the surrounding 40 acres of land until 1952, at which time tract housing replaced the grove. The Porter family continued ownership of the house until 1984, when it was renovated and enlarged for the use as a restaurant.
Lately Porter has been copying a lot of things that I do. This is one of my favorite moments. I went and sat down on the curb and immediately he came and sat down on the curb with me. It amazes me just how impressionable children are and that leads me to the next thought of how important we give the right impressions to our kids.
