County Poorhouse in The Town (Location)

Before the Social Security Act of 1935, many localities in the U.S. had "poor houses" or "poor farms" to give destitute elderly or handicapped people some place to live (at poor farms they were often required to work for their support). The Yoknapatawpha poorhouse where Old Het lives - "That is, she used the poorhouse to sleep in or anyway pass most or at least part of the night in" (241) - is located a mile and a half from Jefferson.