"Plantation Store"

The general merhcandise store was as a gathering place and played many roles in the community. Serving as the town hall, a drug store, post office, meat market, hardware store, flea market, each store was stacked from floor to ceiling with goods, heated with a pot-bellied stove, and perfumed with kerosene, coffee, tobacco, fish, and pipe smoke by the daily visitors. People gathered on the front porch in the summer and around the pot-bellied stove in the winter. Because fresh produce was grown on nearly every farm, the general store primarily supplied canned and dry goods.

Prices at a turn-of-the-century general store: starch-5 cents, calico-20 cents per yard, coffee-25 cents per pound, shoes-$1 per pair, shoulder of meat-$1.95 per pound, rice-25 cents per gallon, gasoline-25 cents per gallon.

Some plantations issued tokens instead of money to workers that were good only in its store. The coins were of different shapes and sizes to distinguish them from those of other plantations. Some were brass, some were aluminum; few had dates minted on their faces. The coins were used to pay workers of stores, bakeries and plantations. Some of the coins were worth as much as $5, but are considered collector's items today. The practice was discontinued in the 1930's when the printing of money by anyone except the Federal Government was outlawed.

Because travel was difficult, a general merchandise store could be found every five to 10 miles. Every plantation had its general store own for the convenience of its plantation hands. The availability of the automobile reduced isolation and led to the decline of these stores.

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