What was Monroeville, Ala., like in the 1930s when little Nelle Harper Lee was growing up, forming the memories she would use as the inspiration for her 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird?"
Was it really like the fictional Maycomb, where the book is set? Did it look like the sound-stage sets created for the classic 1962 film based on the book?
In a 1962 interview with New York Herald Tribune, Lee said of the book's setting: "What I did present as exactly as I could were the clime and tone, as I remember them, of the town in which I lived. From childhood on, I did sit in the courtroom watching my father argue cases and talk to juries."
The action in "Mockingbird" took place from 1933-1935, beginning when its protagonist, Scout Finch, was 6 years old. Harper Lee, known in her hometown as "Nelle," would have turned 7 in April of 1933.
Today, a few sites from Lee's childhood still exist and draw thousands of tourists who come to the town each year on "Mockingbird" pilgrimages. The 1903 courthouse is now a museum and much of downtown business district is intact. Lee's high school and the home where she lived as an adult remain.
But many more sites from the 1930s are lost to time. Before the July 14 release of the Lee's much-anticipated second novel, "Go Set a Watchman," let's get a feel for Monroe County during the Depression.
Monroeville then and now
Monroeville has struggled economically since the 2009 closing of one of its largest industries, a Vanity Fair Brands dye and finishing plant. Its population has begun a slow downward slide, from about 6,500 in 2010 to an estimated 6,200 in 2013, according to Census records.
When Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926, about 1,200 people lived in Monroeville and 30,000 in Monroe County. The largely rural county is dotted with tiny towns and communities with names like Burnt Corn, Scratch Ankle, Excel, Beatrice, Frisco City, Vredenburgh, Mexia and Perdue Hill. According to Marja Mills in the book "The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee," the Lee family loved taking long country drives through these small places with quirky names.
Claiborne, a once-bustling Monroe County burg 13 miles from Monroeville, had already faded to status of ghost town before Lee was born, having been heavily looted during the Civil War and then bypassed by the railroad. Today, it is a historic site with the 1830s James Dellet Plantation home as its centerpiece.
Monroeville's quaint downtown would have looked similar to its current appearance, with shops lining the square around the courthouse. The 1903 courthouse was replaced by an updated building in the 1960s and was nearly demolished before being renovated to its 1930s appearance and opened as a museum honoring "To Kill a Mockingbird," Lee and Monroeville native Truman Capote, Lee's childhood friend and neighbor.
The building where Lee attended high school is also still standing. It is located on York Street near the West Avenue home where Lee lived as an adult. Before 1936, the high school was on the site of the current Monroeville Elementary School. The new school on York served as the high school until a new one was built in 1978 and the building on York became the junior high, which it remains today.
Click through the accompanying gallery of vintage photos of Monroe County to see how it would have looked in Lee's childhood.