Dorothea Lange was one of about a dozen photographers sent out by the Farm Security Administration to document rural poverty during the Great Depression. Dorothea's iconic work helped change the style and power of documentary photography.
Most of her images depict migrant farm workers in the West and the Japanese-American resettlement during World War II. But during July of 1939 Dorothea spent several weeks documenting rural life in the central Piedmont area of North Carolina.
The photograph above was taken during this trip and remains one of the most-published Lange photographs. The "Country Store on a Dirt Road on a Sunday Afternoon" is prominently featured on the Library of Congress photography site.
As I type this post I sit no more than fifteen miles from the location of this store. It is identified in Lange's notes as the "Bayne's Store", which is how I discovered the image, as I was researching the Bayne's Store in nearby Caswell County. Although the store in the photo might actually be the Bain's Store, by the time I researched the location I realized the Lange-version store might still be standing.
Fortunate for me, it is. I found it . Here it is today. . .
As you can see, it's a little worse for wear - the pumps are missing, along with those great advertising signs and the entire left wing of the structure. But, after seventy-four years, it's still there!
I've spent hours comparing both images and am fascinated that the stones supporting the porch are the original ones, the siding still has the nail holes from the signs, and on and on...
No doubt I've stood in the tracks of Ansel Adams while photographing in Yosemite, but it's special knowing that Dorothea Lange captured one of the iconic photographs of the previous century from the very spot I was standing.
The property is private and I believe the owner lives immediately across the road, but if you would like directions, let me know.
FYI: If you click on the images they will display a larger version.
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