Heritage Hints From Mama – Days Before Air Conditioning

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Today my mother, Janice Davis, shares her memories of the summer days before air conditioning! I sure enjoyed reading this and hope you will, too. Gratefully, Christy

Do you remember the days before air conditioning?  We got  our first air conditioner when I was five years old and we moved into our new home.  I remember the noise that it made.  Until we got used to it, the sound was deafening.

Before we moved into the new home, we lived in a small house in a close knit neighborhood.  We had a box fan that was installed into a window in the living room.  All of us kids would sing into the fan.  It made singing a great pastime as it threw the words back out at us.  It didn’t hurt that we also had the cooling breeze in our faces.

My grandmother had a small oscillating fan that sat on a table in her living room.  We loved to put our finger on the center circle of the fan as it spun around.  The grownups always fussed at us and told us that we were going to cut our fingers off and not to do it.  I think the danger of it is what encouraged us to always give it a try. No one ever cut their finger off that I knew of though – but that isn’t to say that today’s fans couldn’t accomplish such a thing (in other words, don’t try this at home!).

We lived next door to my grandmother.  I remember one day that my cousin and I wanted to play in my house.  My grandmother kept us during the day and we weren’t allowed to go in house because my parents were at work.  We decided that if we were sweating really bad that my grandmother would be worried that we were too hot and would allow us to go there to cool off (We had air conditioning but Mama Reed didn’t).  We went to the hose and doused ourselves from head to toe with water.  I’m sure my grandmother knew what we had done but she let us go next door to play.  I can still remember us trying to decide how wet we should be in order to be convincing enough.

Thinking back about the hot days of summer,  I didn’t really remember the heat so much as the memories of the summertime days.  Playing with friends and family and enjoying the carefree days  took over the memories of how hot Southern summers were.  I hope that you have nice childhood summer memories also.

All of these are memories that our children will never know.  I don’t remember thinking that it was so hot outside or anywhere else we went.  There was no air conditioning in stores, churches or restaurants.  Everyone was used to the heat and seemed to cope pretty well.

Kids would get up in the morning, eat breakfast and then head outside for a day of play.  There was no reason to stay inside since the temperature inside was usually at least 10 degrees hotter than outside.  We ran, played in the hose, built clubhouses, and caught honey bees in fruit jars.  Heat sure didn’t slow us down any!

Now parents have to try to get their children to go outside and play.  Children nowadays are used to being inside where the air conditioning keeps the house nice and cool but I can’t help but think they’re missing out on one of the best parts of a childhood.

Do you remember the days before air conditioning?  Do you remember playing in the hose because it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?  Did you have a large box fan in your window?

I look forward to reminiscing with you in the comments below and remember, Mama loves you!

Love,

Mama

Life is too serious to be taken seriously.

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77 Comments

  1. My brother and I are 4 years apart in age and as close as you can get… We were always outside riding bikes, chasing chickens, making up silly games, and jumping on the trampoline. My friend Brandi lived across the highway from us and she and I were always making clubhouses and furniture for them. She is now 26 and due to have her own daughter any day now and my own daughter will be 9 shortly. Thankfully my daughter loves riding her bike and walking my auntie’s dogs and being outside. She likes her video games for about 10 minutes then she’s off to play. Unfortunately, my friends, I am “one of those”. Yep raised in Idaho but I swear an old southern woman at heart. Does that count? P.S. I’ve started writing some of these memories for my daughter and the soon to arrive Little Miss Georgiana… Legacies can be memories can’t they?

    1. I think memories are one of the most precious memories. That is why I am so thankful to Christy for inviting me to write some of mine down. Without her prodding I would not have gotten around to it. Hopefully, now my grandkids will know me as a child and find out what makes me “tick”. I try to prod my grandkids to go outside more. They do love it and spend a good bit of time outside. We fish some since we live on the river and they all love to ride in the boat to the state park and eat. Thanks for sharing! Mama

  2. I didn’t get air conditioning until I was in my 20’s, The living room (I purchased my childhood home) has windows on 3 walls, we would put in the box fans in the north side blowing in and fans on the south side blowing out. On the really hot days I would be down in the basement where it was about 15 degrees cooler then upstairs. We would also make swamp coolers where we would put bowls of ice in front of the fans so they would blow the cooler around then give the melted ice water to the dogs. We would do this in the front part of the house too. the kitchen would only have fans blowing out. Cooking was done outside too between the grills and fire pits. Who needed to go camping to have a cook out we did it in the back yard.

  3. Christy, this makes me smile. I grew up in Orlando during the 70-80s. We never had air while growing up, and unlike the coast, not many breezes made their way in the summer in central FL. My family lived in a modest home. When it was built in the early 70s air conditioning was a builder’s upgrade and not required. My folks didn’t opt for it as we never had it before. You don’t miss what you never had. We survived with a box fan strategically placed in the hall way to draw the outdoor air through the windows. We often slept on top of the sheets if the mosquitoes didn’t eat you alive. I would often get up in the night and throw water all over me and go back to bed wet. Then I could sleep. When ceiling fans became popular we were more excited than goin’ to Disney!
    Some days were better than others. My folks eventually got air conditioning (after I left home and about 20 years) I later got a job with the Trane Co and convinced them it was worth doing. Geeeez they kept it cold! I have been selling air conditioning for about 20 years now commercially. I believe in the product! (Wink) Enjoy your column very much! Thanks!

  4. I was raised on my parent’s farm in Minerva, Ohio, they are still farming at the ripe ages of 80 and 81. My Dad’s brother had the farm in back of our property. My cousins and my siblings were out the door first thing in the morning until dark. Chased fire flies with mason jars and had a heck of alot of fun. Yes, we never stayed indoors, our childhood was special. We roamed over 100 acreas of farmland and never got in trouble, besides back then, the fear of God was instilled by our parents, behave yourselves always.

    1. We always had cousins who had large farms. One of my favorite farms to visit was my Uncle Clayton’s. My cousin Larry and I would roam all over the farm. Uncle Clayton had an old station wagon that we drove all over the fields in even though we were only 12 or 13. We learned how to drive since we were in charge of pulling the wagon to drive by the hay bales to take to the barn. We had to speed up in order to make it across the streams and creeks. It is a wonder that old station wagon made it back to the house. It seems I do remember walking back to the house a few times so that they could bring the tractor to get the car unstuck in the creek. Those were the days!! Mama

  5. I remember those days. We would run thru the house to go out–with a “Don’t Slam the Screen Door”—-just as the slap could be heard from us down in the yard. We had the big fans–and a nice cross breeze helped too. We were bare footed as “yard dawgs” and always had dirty feet. Love the sprinkler and the garden hose. We played ‘Ain’t no boogers out tonight! Grandpa killed them all last nite”….and if you heard all of your “God Given” name being called—you were in for a whoopin’ when you got home. Life was GOOD back then in Greenville, AL.

    1. You talking about the screen door slamming brought back happy memories. I love to hear the screen door slam! In fact, my son bought me a screen door and installed it on my quilting room downstairs inside my home. I love to just let it slam when I go in and out. It amazes me the little things that mean so much to us. I have never been to Greenville but would love to visit. Sounds like a wonderful place! Mama

  6. I remember when we didn’t have airconditioning. Sure did like that attic fan though. Especially at night it would really cool things off. Funny thing about it though, I don’t remember the heat or really being hot like now. I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t as hot as now. I just remember playing outside all day. That was the fun thing about summer was getting to be outside all day. There have been times I too have wanted my kids to have those experiences so even though it is hot, I take my grandkids outside a lot.

  7. I remember staying out until really dark to catch the fireflies. But the most fascinating thing was sitting by the driveway, waiting for the streetlight to flicker on. It was fascinating to me that it knew when to come on!!! my kids think I’m crazy but I loved waiting for that light!

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