Ann and Frank Deemer’s porch gets around.

Today, it wound up in American Profile, an insert of The News Courier, as a feature on the joys of porch sitting.

When the Deemers restored the front porch of their one-story Victorian they tried to keep it as close as possible to its original state and they have long been active in the Beaty Historical District.

Southern Living Magazine started it all more than 20 years ago when editors chose the Deemer front porch at 310 East Street to be part of a photo feature on southern front porches.

Two years ago, The News Courier featured the Deemer’s porch in a feature on front porches. Ann Deemer said Friday that The News Courier feature caught the attention of a writer for American Profile while she was doing Internet research for her article.

Deemer was quoted in The News Courier story as saying that it’s good to sit on the porch in the early morning and late afternoon as the days get warmer, but the best seasons for porch sitting are in the moderate temperatures of spring and fall. She said members of the Knitting Ministry of First United Methodist Church especially enjoy doing their work on her porch.

While Deemer said she is flattered to have her porch chosen once more, she said the enjoyment “doesn’t hold a candle” to the enjoyment she gets from the porch.

“We’ll be sitting out on the porch and people will see us and drop by or cars will pull up,” she said. “One day we had 10 to 12 people visit just because they saw us on the front porch. That is really unusual. We normally wouldn’t have that many people stop by.”

Deemer said she had shoulder surgery this spring and it was while she was still in Huntsville Hospital recovering that the American Profile writer began calling her to set up an interview.

Deemer said a photographer came from Nashville to get the shots for the spread.

“I told him we get the morning light so he was here by 9 a.m. and spent the entire morning here of May 30,” she said.

For Deemer, it was a good opportunity to showcase her grandson, Jack, now 5 months.

The American Profile story says, “Ann Deemer coos to her 3-month-old grandson as they swing on the century-old front porch of her Victorian home in Athens, Ala. (pop. 18,967). The rhythmic swaying soothes baby Jack as the porch—and infant—beckon neighbors.

“If you’re out on your porch, the neighbors just gravitate to you,” says Deemer, 65. “There are walkers and joggers and parents pushing strollers and everyone speaks. So many times, people come right on up and sit down and we have nice visits.”

Deemer and her husband, Frank, paid $9,000 for their fixer-upper house at an estate auction in 1976. The house lacked indoor plumbing and closets and had a cedar tree growing through the roof, but the porch was as big and inviting as an old-fashioned parlor and won them over.