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An illustration painted with ink and watercolor; two boys in worn but patched farm clothes try to barter two eggs for a cup of sugar at their local depression-era general store, at the door a traveling salesman in a light colored shirt and suspenders with his hat sitting back on his head, leans against the door watching the boys deal with the barter system needed in poverty-stricken rural North Florida; all the figures are lean; behind the salesman outside the store is an implied old pickup with various general store supplies; everything seems dusty; but even with the economic hardships the scene still holds small-town warmth.
Two Egg is close to where I live. It has become somewhat well known. If you search on depression era general stores in Florida, the AI will respond with, "The town you are looking for is Two Egg, Florida, a small unincorporated community in Jackson County whose very name originated from its Depression-era general store barter system." It goes on to tell the story: According to local lore and historical accounts from store owners like John Henry Pittman, children were frequently sent to the local crossroads general store by their mothers to trade exactly two eggs for a cup of sugar or other small staples. The name stuck when a traveling salesman witnessed this frequent two-egg transaction. Amused or frustrated by the lack of cash, he jokingly dubbed the crossroads a "two-egg town". Later, when mailing packages to the grocery, he simply addressed them to "the two-egg store". The distinctive name caught on so completely with traveling "drummers" and locals that the U.S. Post Office officially recognized the community as Two Egg in 1934 when a post office branch opened under that name. By 1940, the town was formally included on Florida state maps.
