Crawfish Bottom: Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community

Kentucky Remembered: An Oral History Series

by Douglas A. Boyd, W. Fitzhugh Brundage (Foreword)

A small neighborhood in northern Frankfort, Kentucky, Crawfish Bottom was located on fifty acres of swampy land along the Kentucky River. "Craw's" reputation for vice, violence, moral corruption, and unsanitary conditions made it a target for urban renewal projects that replaced the neighborhood with the city's Capital Plaza in the mid-1960s.

Douglas A. Boyd's Crawfish Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community traces the evolution of the controversial community that ultimately saw four-hundred families displaced. Using oral histories and firsthand memories, Boyd not only provides a record of a vanished neighborhood and its culture but also demonstrates how this type of study enhances the historical record. A former Frankfort police officer describes Craw's residents as a "rough class of people, who didn't mind killing or being killed." In Crawfish Bottom , the former residents of Craw acknowledge the popular misconceptions about their community but offer a richer and more balanced view of the past.

Genres: History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the stories but had less enthusiasm for attempts to frame these oral histories in an academic framework. Still, it's a valuable book for Frankfort residents to remember a piece of history that has lost it's visual representation--especially in a town where so much of the history is still represented by stuff sitting around to be looked at.

[Tommy Druen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the history and folklore of a neighborhood within Frankfort, Kentucky. While reading the book, it is easy to become captivated by the personalities within this 50 acre area. It serves as a great reminder that, no matter how a place may be viewed by outsiders, it's always "home" to someone.

[Peter Brackney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and very interesting, but difficult to quickly maneuver. Still, some of the anecdotes were terrific!