The History of Staying Cool During this period, many Texans built homes under the shade of trees and the windows were positioned to face the breeze to improve ventilation and make the home more comfortable. Modern air conditioning had its true beginnings in the mid-19th century.
Using Windows to Vent/Circulate Air
In multi-story homes, the top halves of windows on the upper floor were opened in the day to allow hot air to escape from the home. In the evenings, after the sun set, the lower part of windows on upper and lower floors were opened to allow cool air to enter the home.
The earliest Texans lived as hunters and gatherers, sharing the landscape with ice age animals including mammoths, cave lions, giant sloths, and dire wolves. Texas has rich remains from the Clovis culture, long believed to be the earliest to spread across North America.
Many homes in the South had sleeping porches for cooler summer sleeping. These porches were screened in to avoid bugs but make use of the cooler summer nights.
Deep eaves and porches protected windows from the heat of the sun, and it was common to plant trees on the east and west sides of a house for additional shade. In addition to this, rooms were designed with windows on opposite sides of the space, which allowed for cross ventilation.
COOL CULTURE
During summer, many clans moved closer to the coast or to large lakes where they could fish. To stay cool, they lived in dome-shaped shelters called wigwams, which were made of young trees, bark, and cattails. These wampum beads were carved from quahog and whelk shells.
The area of land we now call Texas has moved and changed drastically over the course of Earth's history. Oceans have risen and receded, greatly influencing the plants and animals living here. In the Permian, Texas included a shallow sea, a desert and a mountainous peninsula.
The early Texans ate a lot of corn -- fresh corn in season, dried corn in the winter, cornmeal the year around after milling was available. Lacking any other method of preserving food, drying and salting was used a lot.
We are still here. And so too are those of us who go their own way. The Karankawa are few, but strong, and though we do our best to unify as one people, there will always be Karankawa that go their own path.
There is no state law that specifically gives tenants the right to be provided with climate control measures like air conditioning or heating.
Architecture played a big role in keeping homes cool. By creating archways, large windows, and high ceilings, builders could funnel in outdoor breezes and create cross-ventilation. Porches built in the shade also gave people an area to cool off during the evening.
They may have not had air conditioning but early Americans could call upon a variety of intuitive methods – keeping hydrated, wearing light clothing, and making lifestyle changes – to keep cool during the hot summer months.
Summer sun delivers heat right through your windows. Block the heat with shades or blinds during the sunniest hours to keep your home cool without AC. This is a passive, or “natural” cooling method that is one of the cheapest and simplest way to keep your home cool in summer.
Until the Ice Age mammals died out about 8,000 years ago, the first Native Americans, called Paleo-Indians, hunted mammoths and giant bison throughout Texas. They also hunted smaller animals and foraged for edible wild plants.
Today, chili is the official state dish. Texas is known for its variation of chili con carne. Texas chili is typically made with hot peppers and beef (or sometimes game meats like venison) and is sometimes served with pinto beans, either as a side dish or in the chili itself.
Brisket is the top food in Texas, known for its tender, smoky taste. It shows the state's rich food history. This dish is more than food; it's a symbol of community and tradition.
During the period of the transatlantic slave trade, enslaved people ate African foods aboard slave ships. These included rice, millet, okra, black-eyed peas, yams, and legumes such as kidney beans and lima beans. These crops were brought to North America and became a staple in Southern cuisine.
And at one point, about 260 million years ago, Texas was almost completely covered by water teeming with sharks and other sea life. The remaining evidence of these creatures – dinos, sharks, and other creatures – are what we call fossils. And you don't have to be a paleontologist to find one.
Indigenous people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady. In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes.
Beaches in Texas boast rich, turquoise waters and brilliant white sand. Texan beaches like Galveston and South Padre Island are major tourist hotspots and host all sorts of recreational activities like swimming and surfing. People looking for a quieter place to swim should visit Port Aransas.
To help stay cool, many houses had high ceilings to pull hot air up. Many houses also had a “sleeping porch”. During the summer, families in Phoenix would sleep outside on their porch. Some families even put water on their sheets to help keep cool.
Indigenous cultures discovered an ingenious way to create waterproof rain gear—using animal intestines! The intestines of bears, seals, walrus, and other large animals were removed, cleaned, filled with air and stretched out on the ice to dry.
“A small blaze or a few coals kept the winter house as warm as an oven. In fact, James Adair described the winter house as being like a 'Dutch oven. ' Beneath their beds they stored pumpkins, winter squash, and other vegetables to protect them from frost.”