Samford University’s Five Mile Creek oral history project

The Five Mile Creek area has a rich heritage of cultural and natural resources, including the area’s long mining and industrial history.  Often the history of small communities resides primarily in the memory of the residents rather than in books.  This project, conducted from October 2004 to November 2005, aims to preserve the heritage of Five Mile Creek by recording the “oral history” of the communities, before it is forgotten with the passing of time.

During the fall semester of 2004, six Samford University students in Dr. Ken Kirby’s communication arts class conducted interviews with people who had lived in the communities along the creek or who were knowledgeable of its history.  These students and Dr. Kirby made oral and written reports to the Partnership in December 2004, and portions of several of their interviews were published in Five Mile Creek Currents during 2005.  Also during 2005 Dr. Kirby conducted another 26 interviews with people who had lived along the creek when they were young and could describe the communities during roughly the period of 1920 to 1960.  The complete study is archived in the Samford University oral history collection.

Available in Adobe PDF

Oral Histories

Childhood on Five Mile Creek: An Oral History of the Brookside, Cardiff, and Linn Crossing Region, 1920-1960
R. Kenneth Kirby

Oral History Interviews by R. Kenneth Kirby

William Rayford “Bill” Moore
Thomas Bagby
Earl Layne
Ann McConnell
Ralph Sanford
Roy Wages
Robert Woods