Carolina Beach
The Carolina Beach Boardwalk
In Carolina Beach, the boardwalk drew visitors from all parts of North Carolina. These postcards show the fun awaiting those needing a break from the difficult challenges of the Great Depression era. One could try their hand at a game of chance at the bingo parlor, or indulge in world famous Britt's Do-Nuts, established 1939.
These advertising pieces showcasing fun, excitement, beauties, and local businesses allowed for steady employment and economy, insulating the local beaches from the wide spread effects from the Great Depression.
Accomodations
Postcards featuring iconography of local businesses were common during the era of the Great Depression. These advertisment pieces demonstrated to visitors that accomodations were plentiful and transportation easily obtained. Having the information available aided in the decision to visit Carolina Beach - and in turn, spend money necessary to keep the local economy afloat and local hosts at work.
The Palais Royal hotel, built in 1937, featured a dance floor and cafe - Carolina Beach's small town answer to the Lumina Pavilion. The hotel burned during the Boardwalk fire of 1940, but unlike accomodations at Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach received no federal assitance funds. The Palais Royal rebuilt in 1941, and stood for another thirteen years before falling victim to another fire in 1954. Among many other businesses, Bame Hotel and Filling Station also burned in the boardwalk fire, after ten years of serving guests at Carolina Beach.
Carolina Beach acquisition of Federal Funds for Infrastructure
The Works Progress Administration's primary funds allocation for Carolina Beach served public safety. The town leadership received federal funds designated for establishing a municipal building. City hall, the fire department, as well as an auditorium, offices, jail, community kitchen, recreation rooms, and a library helped turn Carolina Beach into a thriving township.
In addition to the municipal building, the Army Corps of Engineers developed a project to link the Intracoastal Waterway to the Cape Fear River. Upon completion by the Works Progress Administration, Snows Cut turned the Federal Point peninsula into an island. The cut provided commercial and recreational sailors an inland passage along the waterway, extending between Cape Cod, Massachutes to Beaufort, South Carolina. The Army Corps of Engineers also provided a steel swing bridge, used by residents and visitors until 1962.
Making a Living at Carolina Beach during the Great Depression
In the 1930s, the Freeman family, of whom Freeman Park at the North End of Carolina Beach is named, made their living through fishing. For twenty-five cents, one could meet the Freemans on the docks for a freshly caught and cleaned fish. On any given day, visitors could observe the fishermen pulling their boats from the breakers directly on the ocean, while carrying bounty of black bass, redmouth, pigfish, croaker, trout, spots, or the greatest delicacy, flounder.
In addition to fish sales, some local entrepreneurs sold the chance of luck to the island’s visitors. Bingo parlors were a place one could go to try their hand at a game of chance, where one could forget the demands of the workplace back home, and relax in a place where the only expectation required was for one to engage in excitement. Before today's stricter gambling laws, families participated together in bingo at the beach.
Imagery Matters - Featuring Children's Activities in Advertising
Carolina Beach has long been known as a working class and family beach destination. As such, the choice of iconography chosen for Carolina Beach postcards shows family and children centered activities. Compared to the available postcards from Wrightsville Beach that features adult oriented activities centered around dancing and music at the Lumina Pavilion, it is clear to see why most families chose to spend their dollars at Carolina Beach.
