This photo dates from the early to mid 20th century or so and documents a time when farmhouses were still very common. This particular house is a two story affair but doesn’t appear to have been quite large – perhaps having a kitchen/eating/lounging area downstairs and two or three bedrooms upstairs. There is a smaller outbuilding off to the left but it could be a barn, cook house, or luxury potty, haha. Ok, not really a potty. The yard is overgrown with weeds which makes me wonder if the fellow standing by the porch just bought the property, or maybe is saying his last goodbye. I have no location or date for the photo.
Who Were They? 
The fellow appears to be patting a dog on the head.
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Yes I think I see a dog too. And I think the man/boy is black. The porch is on the front and the outhouse should be in back – so it’s hidden. The well is on the left in front of a barn. It might be possible to get a region based on the construction details, as I’d think a well would only have a roof in snow country.
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I was thinking the man/boy might be black too, but wasn’t too sure. The hand/arm on the dog’s head appears white, so I wrote the facial darkness off as “in the shadows”. There is a bucket in front of (and maybe another one on top of) the white (washed?) structure/well. That roof over the well is one massive (overbuilt) structure. The trees appear to be bare but there is no “chill in the air yet/anymore” (the man isn’t wearing a coat). The various wooden poles/post in the yard baffle me – I think I see a clothesline behind the well – but in front of the fence) with a woman’s dress or perhaps a tablecloth or sheet drying on it.
The bamboo framing of the photo must suggest some dating (to the photo dating wizards, but not to me!)
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The man is definitely not black. He has either white or blond hair.
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I think this style of photo frame snapshot was popular in the 1930’s. I have a few of them that are similar. Yards were not mowed years ago..a horse or cow would have been let out to take care of the grass. Great old photo:)
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