Westleigh Farms
2107 S. Frances Slocum Trail, Peru, Miami County, Indiana
Built 1913, for Samuel Fenwick Porter (1858-1927) and his wife Kate Cole (1862-1952) as a present from Kate's father, J.O. Cole (1828-1923), "the richest man in Indiana". The Porters were the parents of the iconic composer/lyricist Cole Porter (1891-1964). Since attending Yale and travelling to Europe before living in New York etc., his trips home became infrequent, but when his mother died here in 1952 he was eager to see the house preserved. He asked his first cousin Jules Cole (1892-1974) to maintain it....
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Jules was good to his word and when Cole died in 1964, he left him the house along with all his personal effects which swamped the place on their arrival. After Jules died, his son Jim Cole (1912-1997) moved in with his wife, Alice, and they continued its upkeep - but not without difficulty, "it's rather expensive" Jim was quoted as saying. After Alice died in 2010, it stood empty until 2016 when the house and farm (totalling 2,500-acres) was taken up by Jim and Alice's grand-daughter, Polly Dobbs, with her husband and children.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 13/02/2019 and last updated on 02/09/2020.
Cousin Recalls 'Exciting Times' by Tim Smith in the Sun-Sentinel, May 19, 1991; Porter estate an example of planning asset division, by Anne Allen, Indiana Correspondent for Farm World, 2015
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