Key West Traditions: Blue Porch Ceilings

There's a lot of blue in Key West... the sea, the sky, the ... porch ceilings?

 

This KW Golf Club home's blue porch ceiling provides the perfect backdrop for starfish accents

When I moved to Key West and began searching for my dream home, one of the first things I noticed was the propensity for homeowners to paint the porch ceilings blue. In my neighborhood, the Key West Golf Club, it is actually a requirement that porch ceilings are painted a soft custom-mixed hue, called Shipyard Blue. I love the charming effect, but I have been curious about the origin of this practice. My quest led me to discover several possible answers, ranging from ghostly superstitious to aesthetic to practical...

Both upper and lower porch ceilings are painted blue in this Old Town Key West home, providing dramatic contrast (and maybe even protection from ghosts!)

1. Haint Blue -- The tradition seems to have begun in South Carolina with a custom passed on by African descendants. African legend states that ghosts, or haints, cannot cross water; therefore, they are fooled by the blue ceiling color and will not pass into your home. The superstition caught on throughout the South, and eventually so many people practiced the custom that any shade of blue used for porch ceilings became known as Haint Blue. In Key West, it's theorized that the tradition evolved in the same way from African descendents who migrated from the West Indies. This Southern tradition remains alive and well in the Southernmost City. Perhaps because Key West is one of the most haunted cities in America, people have been more inclined to continue the custom, or maybe it just caught on and became "the norm" for more practical reasons...

 

The porches of the Banyan Tree Resort in Old Town Key West have blue floors and ceilings -- aesthetically pleasing and double the ghost protection!

2. The Birds and the Bees (and the spiders and the wasps) -- Ghosts aren't the only ones being fooled by the blue porch ceilings. Apparently the color trick also works for flying creatures, who see the blue and think it's the sky. This prevents them from building nests or spinning webs. Some people claim that this "sky effect" even works as an insect repellant, keeping flies and mosquitoes up toward the ceiling.

Surrounded by tropical foliage, the blue porch ceiling of this Old Town bungalow may keep the bugs away

3. Why Not? -- After all, blue is one of the few colors that is universally well-liked. Blue is calming, much like Key West itself. With such beautiful weather year round, locals spend a lot of time relaxing on their porches, and blue ceilings can enhance the feelings of relaxation. A blue porch ceiling can even extend the feeling of daylight as the sun sets and basks Key West in vibrant colors...

Key West Sunset: 8/26/13

Whatever the reason behind the tradition, the blue porch ceilings are just another one of Key West's many charms. And I sleep soundly at night, knowing that the four porches of my Conch house are painted blue, working while I sleep to keep ghosts and spiders at bay!

Blue porch ceilings warding off spirits and spiders at my KW Golf Club townhouse

Please visit us at KW Royal Palms Realty for more information about properties for sale or rent in Key West...

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