I remember Dan Rather (a Texan) did a piece on this years ago.

The Southeast was doomed to be an agricultural backwater, inhabited only by the very rich, who could travel with the seasons and the poor who were trapped by their circumstances.

I grew up down South without AC. It was not so bad in my memory. Certainly not as bad as it is now when the AC goes down. You couldn't sleep late in July and August. I remember waking up late with my sheets bathed in sweat, yuk.

You sat on the porch, and prayed for a breeze, but it was what it was so it didn't seem like hell. A night at the movies was not about the B movie double feature. It was all about that sign outside that said "Cool Inside".

Some down here swear that the AC's pumping out hot air has made it worse than it was but that is not believable for me.

It didn't take high rise condos to get you to the beach. The prevailing Gulf breeze was enough.

Hell, thinking about it makes me nostalgic, but I have to say it is better now