The Late 1930's

Jun 25, 2019, 3:11 PM

and the depression was still evident in many sections of the country, especially in those areas where farming was the chief means of a livelihood. Prices were low for farm products and the cost of most items was low but money was also a scare item.

Our high school football team played several teams east of the St. Johns River in North Florida, Traveling to these games required us to travel through Palatka, the largest city en route. We did not have meal money so we had to take a "nose bag" meal for away games. But returning home, Palatka was an oasis in the desert. From previous years, the coach and players had discovered a restaurant that became our favorite and had now become a ritual, And the orders were always the same, a piece of pie and a pint of milk. All for the grand sum of twenty five cents, and there was no tax. The only problem was that not everyone had a quarter. But, not to worry, somehow we were always able to find enough quarters so everyone could join in this ritual. That piece of pie was not a small sliver, it was one fourth of the pie for the huge sum of fifteen cents. The price for the pint of milk was ten cents.

Most Ten Cent stores and drug stores in that era had a lunch counter. Breakfast was twenty five cents and included two eggs, bacon or sausage, toast and coffee and there were free refills on coffee. Just before the outbreak of WW2, some places raised their price to thirty cents and a few even went as high as thirty five cents. Yes sir ree ------ highway robbery !!!

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My father in law helped work a tobacco farm in Dillon as a child, and he likes to tell us about the times his dad would take the wagon to town...always a big deal for a child, and pick up a load of German soldiers from a prison camp nearby. I presume it was about 1943 at least. They might have been captured in Tunisia. They couldn't speak each others language, but he said they were always nice to him and played with him on the ride, and in retrospect were pretty good farmers themselves, since that's probably what they did in Germany before the war. They'd work the fields all day, without supervision, and get taken back to town at night after nothing more than a head count. It was a win-win. His dad was thankful for the help, and the Germans were thankful to get out from behind the wire for any reason. So far as I know none of them tried to escape. They were just biding their time to get shipped home, happy "the was was over" for them, any anyhow, where were they going to go, the Great Pee Dee Swamp?

The Late 1930's

Re: The Late 1930's

Love your historical stories Joe

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