Am I the only person that thinks it is amazing that people used to live without AC and electric fans?

Question

I live in SC, and the heat makes my baby miserable. I can't imagine dealing with the heat 100 years ago. Those poor people.

The house we currently live in was built in 1850 on a plantation. The only modifications that have been made to the house have been the installation of plumbing and an AC unit. We still have well water, except obviously we now enjoy the convenience of having an electric well pump.

I find it very interesting how much we depend on electricity and technology, and it is intriguing to me that people were *ever* able to live comfortable lives without the modern conveniences. I can't imagine having to cook our meals over an open fire, or having to do laundry by hand. My generation (I'm 32) has no idea what true "hard work" is.

And, for the record, we are originally from VA and plan on moving back up North as soon as financially possible.. ;)

Thanks so much to all that answered-- I appreciate the education that I have received on this topic!

Answer 1

What do you mean 100 years ago? I never lived in a house with a fan until I was in my 30s. My first home had no running water and only a hand pump at the kitchen sink which went to a cistern (collected rain water). I remember when our first telephone was installed (a party line) and when we went from wood to gas for heat and cooking. (Even then that only happened because a neighbor had a drilling company strike a gas well. The bathroom was an outhouse and pots under the beds (which my job was to empty each morning).

We grew or raised nearly all of our own food purchasing only basic staples such as sugar. I always remember having electricity but it was often 'out' and we always had candles and kerosene lamps. Our sheets were made from flour sacks and blankets were made by family members. No television and we watched the 'radio'.

I remember haying with loose hay (and horse drawn equipment) before there were bales. Neighborhood threshing parties and milking by hand. Once a week we would go to the local town (about 100 residents) where that night there would be a free show (movie) on the side of a building..

None of this was considered a big deal because all of our neighbors lived in similar fashion. None of this was that long ago because I'm only 66 and was born just before WW II.

By the time I was 9 or 10 things had begun to change, but we never had fans.

Answer 2

I'm always amazed that in only about a century and a half since the end of the last little ice age things warmed so much that folks run around half-nekkid in public. Less than 200 years back, 1816 was the year with no summer.

Oh hey, does anyone recall those paddle-type fans with advertising on them that ladies liked to fan themselves with? Cardboard stapled onto a sort of tongue-depressor stick? I've got a couple that still work.

Answer 3

I live in south Texas average July day 95 plus 80 nites,now that is hot,sticky,humid miserable weather.I have lived here all my life,64 years.When i was a child we didn't even have fans.People took a nap or had down time from 12 till 2.and I believe it was not as hot as it is now.We all had screened in porches and that is where we would sleep.You lived with all the windows and doors open.Houses were built differently and not so close together.A tree was a valued thing,you would never cut down a shade tree.You would put a patio under it and eat outside a lot.But,along came man with parking lots and sidewalks skyscrapers and malls.I believe this is why it is hotter now then it was even 50 years ago.This is global warming,The reason it is so hot.

Answer 4

Actually, I think what would make the discomfort of living without AC and electric fans even worse is the fact that 100 years ago, there was much more of an emphasis on covering up and being "decent" and so on. Not to mention the fact that people didn't have deoderant and there were plenty of people who didn't have indoor plumbing.

Things like that certainly make me grateful for living now rather than 100 years ago. :)

Answer 5

Well a lot of people still live without it. What amazes me more is that people who did not have a source of cooling wore wool suits in the summer. For the most part, Europe is not big on AC, when Daimler first bought Chrystler; one of the big concerns was that the American workers were used to AC, while the German ideal was simply opening the windows and putting up some fans.

Answer 6

W O W!!! Now I can go in peace. All these years I've lived, I knew I was missing something; now I know what it was. I am SOOOOOOoo glad I found the answers to the void in my life. I feel so invigorated now! I feel like I might make it a few more days so I can share this knowledge with as many people as I can. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for what you've done. I'll never be the same.

Answer 7

Many modern buildings are designed and built assuming the existence of artificial cooling and heating. It is possible to design buildings using passive temperature control. Things as simple as wide verandas to shade windows and doors and having deciduous trees planted so as to give shade in summer, and allow the sun through in winter can make an enormous difference to interior temperature. There are many other tricks. These techniques were used before air con.

Answer 8

I work in a history museum, where we're outside in 18th century period costume in 100 degree heat all the time. We get used to it, so I'm sure the people in the actual 18th century did too! One of my co-workers said that since the people in the 18th century had never experienced air conditioning, they didn't know to miss it - that they just got used to the heat better, better than we do today, because we have air-conditioned homes and cars and whatnot.

...this reply makes no sense, I fear!

Answer 9

It's one of the most practical and tangible products of modernity and the industrial revolution, perhaps second to refrigeration for food storage. Before these electric devices, like lighting and washing machines, people liked very hard lives.

Answer 10

A lot of folks from South Carolina would spend the summers in the Smoky Mountains, from Asheville and eastward. Yes, in the South, it makes you wonder...
~