The Peddling Truck

                         Former Peddling Truck of Mitchell Bros. Store in Antioch


In rural Alabama during the Depression, WW2 and immediate years afterward many families did not own their own transportation and would get their much needed supplies from the local Peddling Truck or "Rolling Store" which was a service furnished by many local General Stores of the era.

The Rolling Store began in the 1800's as horse drawn wagons loaded with flour, pans, sugar and materials for sewing but by the mid 20th Century ton and a half trucks and old buses had been converted to serve the purpose.

These old trucks were packed to the ceiling with foodstuffs, hardware, textiles and even toys for the children.
Many people would stand out by the road waiting for the arrival of the peddler because it was as close as they were going to get to a Shopping Spree.

I was born in 1970 after the Rolling Store was long passed into history but I knew about practice because my Grandparents (with whom I lived) had an old derelict Peddling Truck on their property which they used for storage.   Owned by Mitchell Bros. store in Antioch it was originally an old early thirties Dodge truck which had been hand built with pieces of a bus and hand fabricated sheet metal.   This particular Rolling Store ran the Sand Mountain portion of Jackson County and the Antioch and Greens Chapel areas of DeKalb County during the forties.   When you stepped inside the shelving was still intact and reached all the way to the ceiling.  there was even notes written in pencil on the walls of which customers had bought something on credit and how much they owed.

I could just imagine this very truck barrelling down dirt roads in 1945 in a trail of dust while kids awaited it's arrival and housewives waited to go through it's shelves to pick out the prettiest material to sew a new dress and farmers waiting for it to get their weekly supply of Beechnut Chewing Tobacco.

The Peddling Truck is a product of an almost forgotten area but it is still an important part of our past.  Think of it as a Bookmobile....without the books...or a mobile ebay with it's own schedule.      Something our Grandparents would be as familiar with as we are with Dollar General today.