There’s no doubt, in many ways life in South Carolina in the 1930s was a much simpler time than life now 80+ years later. The farming towns, lumber towns and the mill towns each had their own characteristics, but they also had certain things in common. Take a look at what every small town in South Carolina had in the 1930s.

1. A fruit stand and...
Library of Congress LC-USF342-T01-008098/Walker Evans
2. ...even a mercantile store, if they were lucky.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-015763/Cox
3. Tenant farms were plentiful in the 1930s as the economy rebounded from the Great Depression.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-006811/Carl Mydans
4. Most people in small towns raised their own animals as a resource for feeding the family.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-043613/Jack Delano
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050641/Marion Post Wolcott
5. Most small towns had at least a small schoolhouse. This one at Camp Croft was rather large.
library of Congress LC-USF34-050548/Marion Post Wolcott
6. Advertising on the side of barns and other buildings. It seems no matter where you lived, in a big city or small town, you still needed to buy certain things.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050583/Marion Post Wolcott

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7. Big fancy homes where the wealthier families lived.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050602/Marion Post Wolcott
8. ...and the homes where everyone else lived.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050605/Marion Post Wolcott
9. A church.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050458/Marion Post Wolcott
10. Most small towns set aside a place at or near the church to bury deceased loved ones.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050640/Marion Post Wolcott
11. A post office was an integral part of the community in the 1930s. Sometimes they were located inside the mercantile/general store.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-050755/Marion Post Wolcott
12. Outhouses.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-051928/Marion Post Wolcott
13. A simple dirt road leading in and out of town.
Library of Congress LC-USF34-051911/Marion Post Wolcott

If you’d like to see more of South Carolina in the 1930s, then take a look at these 21 Rare Photos Taken In South Carolina During The Great Depression.

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