I'm not seeing it as a unique thing. I have distinct memories of my grandparents, great grandparents, and their neighbors hanging out together on my great grand

I'm not seeing it as a unique thing. I have distinct memories of my grandparents, great grandparents, and their neighbors hanging out together on my great grandparents' screened porch and talking for hours into the evening after supper time. For people born in the early 1900s and earlier in the South, it's just what you did, because the wind moved better outdoors than indoors and the matriarch of the family just spent a couple hours warming the house up in the summer time with her cooking. The men would sit in rocking chairs with cigarettes or cigars and talk about sports, politics, how their crops were doing, etc, and the women would sit together on makeshift outdoor couches with dinner mints or desserts to discuss their kids and the local gossip. Even today, my friends and their families will get together for game nights twice a week at different homes, just discussing whatever comes to mind while playing board or card games.