My AC Died, and I spent about 20 hours without it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. I often think of the women who settled our Southern area in early 1800's...

All those layers of clothing, made even worse by having to do cooking and kids and etc all day. And the summer air down here is heavy with humidity, physically weighing on one.

Even now I see a lot of pre-A/C style houses around town, where there is a separate small shed like house for the washer/dryer, in recognition of how the steamy laundry process could add to humidity and heat in the home.
In rural areas, it was common to have a separate kitchen area for hot months.

While one can wax nostalgic for shady front porches and lemonade, it really does not get cool at night until past midnight in the summer.
Early fall days are great for lower temps, little humidity and porch sitting, many houses now have a back deck as opposed to a wrap around front porch.

One surprise in the South is how green it is, because trees around houses are valuable, and very common in most towns.