Haint Blue Porches

Lowcountry porch ceilings painted pale blue to ward off evil — visible all over old Beaufort

Walk through any historic Beaufort neighbourhood and look up at the porch ceilings. A surprising number of them are painted a pale, washed-out blue — somewhere between sky and water. The colour is called "haint blue," and the practice belongs to the Gullah-Geechee culture of the Sea Islands, brought from West Africa and adapted in the Lowcountry.

The custom has long outlived its original purpose, and Beaufort houses across the historic district carry on with it as a regional aesthetic. It is not a single attraction so much as a thing to notice once and then keep spotting everywhere — front porches, back porches, even the undersides of shutters.

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A story
The colour comes from the Gullah word 'haint' for a wandering spirit. Tradition held that ghosts could not cross water — and a blue ceiling looked enough like water that the haint would stop at the threshold and turn back.