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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I remember my grandmother had a huge fan, twice the size of the box fans today, on a stand and wheels so you could roll it around the house. She would put it in between the the front room and the kitchen and when she got too hot, she would stand up and put her shirt on the top of the fan to “cool off.” She also had a metal tub that she would fill up with water for me so I could play in it and cool off. Those hot summer days out at my grandma’s house are the best memories I have from my child hood. Thanks for taking me back there today 🙂
I was raised in Fayetteville and Roseboro, NC. We lived with my Grandparents for most of my childhood. My kids have no idea what real fun is! We couldn’t wait for the sun to come up, so we could run out the door and play hard all day. We hated to come in for supper, and didn’t come home til the streetlights came on! We would play hide and go seek in the dark and catch fireflies in mason jars. During the summer, we would play in the sprinkler and eat apples from the apple tree, and lay on the roof and look at the stars while singing our favorite songs and telling ghost stories. We’d make “clubhouses” out of anything ( mostly our imagination), lol! We didn’t have air conditioning, but my grandpa installed an attic fan that felt so good when it was storming outside because it was so cool, and you could smell the rain. It would suck the air in through the windows, and into the ceiling. I haven’t thought about things like that in so long. Thank-you!
We made playhouses too. We swept the pine needles away to create “rooms”. Then we brought in rocks or boxes for chairs, etc. Children’s imagination sure runs wild, doesn’t it. I loved reading your memories of childhood. We must have lived in a poor neighborhood, we didn’t have streetlights! Take care, Mama
I know this is going to kockyour little socks off in this day and age, but here goes anyhow. I STILL DON”T USE AIR CONDITIONING.
I was grown gone and had kids of my own before my parents got AC. Funny I was over to dads just a few weeks ago and even with all the hot heat and humidity Michigan has had this summer, dad was sitting with the doors and windows open and no air on at all. He says it has to get darned awful hot before he turns the air on… We have small units in our bedrooms and a small one in the living room now and it has to be pretty warm before we turn them on though I have to say i have used it more this summer than normal. I can hardly wait till it cools down enough days for me to open the windows and let the breeze3s blow through. Do on week ends but during week have to close up to go to work. But come Sept. and Oct. hubby and I are retiring so we can enjoy the nice fall weather.
As a kid the upstairs bedrooms that belonged to us kids both had the big box window fans in to move the air. And yes I too loved singing into the fans. Used to scare my sisters when I did it.
I loved being outdoors and was outside from after breakfast until after dinner with just a break to come in and eat. And many times we ate outside at a picnic table. We lived in a small subdivision and my parents had a extra lot with our home they had bought. Was a great place for all the neigborhood kids to gather to play softball, football , badmitton, croquet or any other game we could think of. ( And in the winter dad would push back the snow all around the sides and bring in the fire truck and put layers of water down for ice skating) We hit out home made rink after school and skated till dinner time
What I would not give to go back to those days. I have been blessed with 21 and 2 great grandchildren grandchildren and they too love being outdoors in the summer. A couple of the older ones with jobs work work outdoors and all the boys love hunting and fishing so are outdoors a lot. No inside games for them …But they do all have AC for night.
We never had enough cold weather for the snow you mention. We sure didn’t have our own ice rink! That had to be awesome. I love reading all of everyone’s memories. I can only hope that my grandchildren have sweet memories of me. I try to make memories each time they visit. I knew I was lacking a little when Christy’s son, Brady, got excited when he found “grandmother cookies” at the grocery store. I had planned on making cookies often but with all the little helpers I found that Nilla Wafers was a favorite of little kids so that is what I am known for! Oh well, maybe they’ll remember the sleep overs with all the cousins. Mama
Ahhhhhhhh….the hot days of summer! I grew up on a farm and was outside every chance I got. I remember the itchy hot days of harvest when everyone was dripping with sweat, which stuck with straw – it was miserable! And we took huge jars of ice water and coffee to the field with big lunches. Those guys could eat!! One day, mom went to the store in town for groceries and they had a big fan for sale so she brought it home. Dad thought it cost too much and wasn’t necessary, so the next time they came in to eat, she had it hanging in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, blowing on the guys. The fan stayed and lasted for years and years!!
We had a very small house and no A/C. My half-sister was 11 years older than me and got married when I was about 7. My dad died when I was only 8; so, it was just my mom and me in the house. I rode my bike about a mile to my cousins’ house almost every day and we played outside. (I have a lot of scars on my knees from bike wrecks on gravel roads!) Sometimes, one of my cousins and I would have barefoot races in our gravel driveway. He was so fast! I came close a few times, but I never beat him. We had Mimosa trees in our front yard, and they were easy to climb. I loved to read, and many a day I’d climb up one of those trees, fragrant with blooms, and read for hours. I used to practice baton twirling in the evening in the front yard. We didn’t have money for lessons for me, but I used to dream of being a majorette when I got to high school. I loved it when we’d have company–my aunts and uncles or an occasional neighbor. They would sit in lawn chairs in the front yard under our many shade trees. We kids would just sit on the grass and listen till we got bored and would go off to play Red-Rover, tag, hide & seek, or Alley Oop (throwing a big rubber ball over the house). Things sure have changed, haven’t they? No one back then had to worry about making a special effort to get exercise–we got more than enough just playing!
I remember trying to figure out how to twirl a baton. I also dreamed of being a majorette. So much so, that my winter shoes were a pair of white majorette boots with white tassels on them. That was back in the days when you had a pair of flip flops for summer and one pair of shoes for winter. Thanks for bringing that memory back. Mama
I am 79 years old so needless to say there was no a/c anywhere. We had a family of six kids, eight people in a 4 room house. ( total of 4) rooms.
No one knew of air conditioning and we were very poor but it didnt matter to us kids, we didn’t know the difference. The main thing is that we were a happy, close knit family, with loving memories. How well I remember the fat back for breakfast, my mother making biscuits with lard. As they say, sometimes ignorance is bliss!
My mother is 80 years old and talks often of her childhood. They had a wagon that their mother made them from a cardboard box. She talks about it like it was the top of the line wagon from Radio Flyer. She says no one thought about how poor they were since everyone was as poor as they were. Childhood memories are so sweet. I just hope everyone has some sweet memories of their childhood! Thanks for sharing with us. Mama