Richmond County, Seaboard Air Line Railway (NC) (Images of America)

Richmond County and the Seaboard Air Line Railway presents vintage photographs by talented photographer Frederick “Frank” Marchant (1872–1942). The images document the bustling railroad town of Hamlet and the county seat of Rockingham in North Carolina during the first quarter of the 20th century. Marchant, a native of Pennsylvania, arrived in Hamlet in the early 1900s. By 1907, he was working as a commercial photographer and as the official “picture taker” for the railroad company. Marchant developed a keen eye for interesting subjects, and some of his work took on a photojournalistic quality. His photographs, many of which he published as postcards, record rail activity in the Hamlet area, which became the “hub” of the Seaboard Air Line.