It's hard not to notice all the light blue roofs on the porches of Charleston. Of course I am now obsessed with the look and begging hubby to put up bead board and paint our porch ceiling blue...
"There are other fragments of the past that lie quietly in the hollows of
Charleston’s sweet-smelling streets. Roofs of piazzas are painted a
pale blue color, known locally as “haint blue.” Haint is the Gullah word
for haunt. In many superstitious beliefs, ghosts or other spirits are
not allowed to cross water. The color blue used outside of doors and
windows, being a reflection of water, would confuse or otherwise deter
spirits from entering the home. Was it always done for this reason? In
many parts of Florida and the Caribbean, this color was adapted to keep
bees from nesting, as it was to give the illusion of sky. Perhaps they
are both correct; Charleston, when summed up as a whole, is English
Caribbean, albeit accented with African and French."
