The year 1930 was 93 years ago and some of you were here during that difficult decade when from Aug. 1929 until about Dec. of 1941 was the Great Depression, and 1939 brought in the brutal experiences of the Second World War when our friends and family members sacrificed so much. But time was also available for loving and catching some fun. Here is just a small look at life back then in these vintage 1930s pictures of North Carolina. Do you know anyone in these precious photos?

An Appalachian mountain farmhouse near Marshall, North Carolina, in 1936 shows the inside of this modest home.
Marshall, NC 28753, USA
Carl Mydans, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
That same year pictures a woman working at a homestead in Penderlea, North Carolina.
Penderlea, NC 28478, USA
Carl Mydans, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
And if you had a car, just look at the view on N.C. Highway 14 on the way to Yanceyville in 1939.
Yanceyville, NC, USA
Marion Post Wolcott, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Or you could drive into cities, such as Raleigh and park on busy Salisbury Street.
Raleigh, NC, USA
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
This 1939 "News and Observer" photo shows traveling salesmen of Dillon Supply Co. in Raleigh.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Pictured front row left are: Roger C. Ragland; E. R. Walker Sr.; and A. S. Chappell. The back row includes B. D. Wilson; Lee A. Griggs; and E. R. Walker Jr.
People are also hard at work that same year on the 200 block of North Front Street in Wilmington.
Wilmington, NC, USA
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
And some of us worked on the sea, such as these herring fishermen on Chowan River, formed at the meeting of the Nottoway and Blackwater rivers near the North Carolina and Virginia border.
Chowan River, North Carolina, USA
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Women held their own working on the assembly line at the Chowan River.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
This 1939 photo of the border Belt Tobacco Markets was taken by the "News and Observer" in 1939.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
And Saturday afternoons in Yanceyville brought their share of fun.
Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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This portrait of the photographer of the last photo, the third photo, and one following, Marion Post Wolcott, was taken a year later in Kentucky.
Marie Turner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Wolcott worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression, documenting the cultural hardships and some fun too.
She snapped this 1939 picture of football fans who couldn't get in to the game as they sat outside in the parking lot and listened to the Duke University-North Carolina football game on the radio in Durham.
Marion Post Wolcott, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This postcard of the Pioneer Zephyr was taken in 1935 at Southern Pines, while the train was on a publicity trip from Camden, New Jersey to Columbia, South Carolina.
Eddy's Studio, Southern Pines, NC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
And vehicles had other uses, such as watching life go by.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
This 1939 sharecropping family in Wilmington had a different view.
Arthur Rothstein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
And sometimes magic happened, such as the time the professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1926, Jack Dempsey, visited Central Prison in 1939 at the request of a prisoner.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
While he was there, he refereed a match between two inmates inside the prison yard.
While times were tough this hunter enjoyed the outdoors a little while successfully snagging some wild turkeys.
State Archives of North Carolina, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Like Wolcott, Dorothea Lange also worked for the Farm Security Administration and is best known for her Depression-era work, such as in the next two photos.
Dorothea_Lange_1936.jpg: Dorothea_Lange ???derivative work: Svajcr, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This picture of a filling station on the Fourth of July in 1939, near Chapel Hill, shows how these became community centers.
The Library of Congress, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
The baseball players were on the local Cedargrove Team to play a game nearby.
Another country store along a dirt road one Sunday afternoon caught her attention that same time in Gordonton, North Carolina.
Dorothea Lange, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

We hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into the 1930s. If these evoke some memories, please share them in the comments below. And here are 14 more of the oldest photos ever taken in North Carolina. 

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