I grew up a 20 miles north of Austin in the center of the state. It was really humid there most of the year. Dad tried using evaporative coolers, but combined with all the humidity being pumped in from the coast, they caused mildew and mold to form. So he took out the pumps and just used them as fans. The old house had 13 foot ceilings downstairs, and that helped quite bit. I still remember the house creaking and moaning in the evening as it started to cool down from the summer day heat. It would expand during the day with the heat then start contracting at night as some of the heat dissipated. Friends thought our house was haunted because of all the noise it made! Plus the local funeral home was only half a block down the street. But it was just nature doing her thing. We sure spent a lot of time outside in the summer evenings though, waiting for the house to cool down to hot from hellish hot!

ETA: But we were more or less used to the heat as none of our schools had HVAC until they built a new high school in the mid-1970s. And none of my relatives had HVAC in their homes either. The only time we were around HVAC was when we went to shopping malls, restaurants, and other retail places. So I guess you don't miss what you are never around or never had. Now though I could never live without AC in the summer. I got old and spoiled by it!