Benefits and Accessibility of Beaches For Depression Era Workers
Affordable and Accessible
The North Carolina coast offered significant employment opportunties within the tourism field, while providing benefits to workers from across the state. Beginning in atleast the mid 1700’s, health benefits drew tourists to the coast. Sea water in the purest and most natural form became known as a cure available to all.
Local travel provided accessible vacation opportunties for those with limited time or money. Postcard advertisments offered images showcasing affordable inns and transportation options, enticing the average working folks. Close proximity vacations were the backbone of the tourism economy.
Carolina Beach developed as a working-class beach. One could imagine the undeveloped land, where in place of multistory oceanfront homes, abundant trees gave way to dairy pastures, and residents sold milk to their neighbors to help ends meet. Fishermen seeking a minimal cost recreation activity flocked to the area. Accessibility in both terms of physical distance and community acceptance kept visitors returning to this same spot year after year.
Improvement in Morale
The majority of remaining occoupation centered around factory or manufacture work during the Great Depression, where quite often workers were reduced to the status of “cogs in the machine.” Stuart Chase, author of “Men and Machines” published in 1935, the antidote to an increasing mechanization that “brutalized human beings by the psychological imperatives of their daily labor” could be found in outdoor leisure, including swimming, boating, and fishing.
George Copeland, newspaper columnist for the New York Times, stated that nature provides “help (in) maintain(ing) the health, morale, and efficiency of the American People”. Shortly thereafter, President Roosevelt began a federal initative entitled Campaign For Travel. Travel became a necessity for all in the 1930's, strengthening America, and providing jobs to the “farthest corners of the nation”. Hotel, tackle reseller, fishing pier, entertainment center, inn, and transportation workers all benefitted from the President's travel initative. Approximatly sixty million travelers equated to six billion dollars in revenue, or about eight percent of the consuming power of the era. Five million laborers provided services to these travelers along destination hotspots.
Increase in Spending Power
In an era characterized by 25 to 35% unemployment, it is easy to forget that another 65 to 75% still held some form of occupation. As such, some employees held steady rates of pay. For those only mildly affected, the economic downturn actually increased disposable income. As shown in a study from 1935-1936, approximatly 330,000 households saw an increased standard of living. Along with encouragement through President Roosevelt's Campaign for Travel, this disposable income could be utilized towards a oceanfront escape. Relative increases in income equated to more of the population ability to afford close proximinty travel, as well as destination spending.
How was this possible in the face of such unprecedented unemployment figures? Prices on staple items including food dropped significantly during the era, as did the cost of luxury items - radios and automobiles, for example. Less money spent on necessities directly correlated to an increase in funds without designation in most family’s budgets. While certainly many were completely economically devastated during the depression, for some the effects proved to be mild. Increased recreation spending enabled jobs for millions more to become available and sustainable.
