[5] James William Porter
The third member of the Kentucky trio was James Porter. Raising pineapples and keeping chickens, he homesteaded 160 acres of
land south of Hypoluxo Road and west of Dixie Highway (U.S. #1) – the land now known as the HYPOLUXO SCRUB NATURAL
AREA.
Porter married Ellen Ferguson, a Kentuckian, in 1899 and built a large two-story house facing east on the northeast portion of
today’s scrub area.
It is said that much of the timbers for the house were found washed ashore on the beach, salvaged from ship wrecks. Some of the
building’s remains are still visible today -- a cement cistern, a pump platform, part of the dirt road.
The Porters raised four children: William, George, Henry and Isabel. Over time, all the children moved away except Henry, who
remained in Hypoluxo most of his life.
James eventually gave up farming and began to subdivide his land, planning to build homes as the population grew. Porter died at
age 78 in October 1937.
In September 1971, the fire department burned the Porter house to the ground, as a training exercise.