Heritage Hints From Mama – Days Before Air Conditioning
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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It is sad for our children that their entertainment is mostly indoors, plus as parents we can not feel free to let them play outside like we did when I was growing up. We would ride our bikes to the convenience store and get 10 cents worth of penny candy. You knew all the kids up and down the streets. We had back yard Bible studies, scavenger hunts. We came home at supper time and then back out until dark.
I do remember having a fan in the house, and no air conditioning in the car. We would ride to the beach each summer for over 6 hours with the wind blowing in with the windows down. How did we hear each other talk? Now I can’t stand it without the air conditioner on! I freeze my husband and sons–I think it has to do with hormones!!! How did our Mothers and Grandmothers make it without air? But they never complained and we had home cooked meals every night. Hot breakfast every morning!!
What good days and special blessings. Thank you for reminding me of these special times!!
Pam
We also used box fans, my first air conditioner was after we got married and had a mobile home, couldn’t stand the heat without it…Lee, I also went to Bailes in Anderson and my first escalator ride was there…my sister in law took me there as a teenager to shop…course we had to cross the state line to find somewhere to shop…still shop in Anderson and that first trip was over 40 yrs ago.
My Scottish Grandmother use to bring me out on her screen in porch whare we would listen on the radio and hear Ted Williams hit another Home Run
I remember some of the joys your readers have posted, but I have a different memory too. My grandparents were dairy farmers, and I remember sitting on the fence watching the cows march into the barn to be milked. My grandmother had a cow she would milk by hand for their personal use. She would churn the milk to make butter, and then would sell the extra butter at my uncle’s store next door. My brother and I would walk up to the store, and open the “drink box” and put our hands in the ice cold water to cool off. They also had some great ice cream treats we would buy as a special treat. Candy was 5 cents for a huge bar, and only a penny for small bars.
Grandmother also had a fan and we would sing into the fan so we could hear our voices vibrate. WOW, What great memories.
Do you remember how the tar on the road would bubble up in the summer, and burn your feet ’cause you always played barefooted?
I sure do! I remember walking in the road in front of my grandmother’s house and popping the tar bubbles wearing my flip flops. By the time I got through I couldn’t even walk. The tar and gravel were weighing my flip flops down. My grandmother had to work for awhile to remove it all. Had to save those flip flops since they were my only “summer shoes”! Had thought of that in awhile. Thanks! Mama
Popping tar bubbles! I’m glad y’all jogged my memory on one of my favorite summer pastimes as a kid. I liked to find a small sturdy twig to pop them with. ‘Course, I also remember getting in trouble with my mom for getting tar on my new shorts set, too! LOL
I grew up without air conditioning and one box fan. We put it in a window and let it pull air through the other open windows. One day when I was exploring the unused upstairs of my Grannys house, I came across a little fan about 8 inches across. I thought I had hit a gold mine, and in a way I had. My Dad put a new cord on it and it was going to be used in my bedroom at night.. Well the first night I was ready to go to bed before the sun went down. I got into bed and my Mom tucked me in and turned on that little fan.When it started up, that hum lulled me into drowsiness and as I lay there and listened I soon fell asleep.I don’t even remember if I was cool or not, I just remember the hum of that little fan and how comforting it was. Our favorite way to get cool, was to get squirted with the water hose. Man was that water cold.! Thanks again for urging us to rmember the little things !
You know, I remarked to my Daddy that the water was colder when we were kids and he told me it was because it was well water. I just thought that it was colder because I was a kid. Now we know! Take care, Mama
When I was growing up in our suburban Cleveland home we did not have AC. I remember using fans and opening the windows at night to let the cooler air in. We closed them in the morning when the sun started to heat things up. Eventually, we got several window size air conditioners..for the bedrooms mostly. When I got married my husband and I bought a home w/no AC and did the same as my parents until we could afford to have it installed. We moved on to a new home w/ AC and this Summer it quit! My husband has been layed off 4 times in the last 8 years and we have been struggling to make ends meet..so needless to say we can’t fix the AC right now. We keep remarking to each other that it is like “being a kid again”. After dinner we head out to the deck and enjoy the cooler air until we can open the house again. We have found that you really do adapt and get used to the heat! Also, the benefit to us is the electric bill is much lower AND we have spent great quality time out side in the evening!!