Berry Craig went back to his hometown of Mayfield on Tuesday, and took these photos while there. Most are from North Mayfield, which he said seemed harder hit than even downtown.
Destruction and devastation
(From upper left)One of many broken water pipes; business damage; more business damage; entire neighborhoods wiped out; more pictures of residential devastation; home of Paula and Royce Buck – the orange X and the date means the house was checked for casualties on Dec. 12; this bookcase is all that was left of a North Mayfield law office.
The Andersons
Tombstone of Congressman Lucian Anderson and his wife, Ann. Also buried in the family cemetery is John Anderson, Mayfield's founder; Anderson park in north Mayfield memorializes Lucian and John Anderson and a descendant, beloved teacher Martha Nell Anderson.
The media
(From upper left)Media row; another interview. Media was in town from all over the country and even Europe; TV camera operator finds a feline friend who survived the tornado.
Cleanup
(From upper left)Sign outside Mayfield High School, a tornado relief center; piles of debris; using power equipment to clean up rubble; post office cleanup continues; Tons of rubble have been cleared away since cleanup crews started work Saturday morning
“Survivors” in the rubble
(From left) “Survivor” evidently from the First Presbyterian Church nursery; orphaned bunny rabbit; a surviving Santa; Humor amidst tragedy--a mannekin's head placed in a window of a heavily damaged building; Christmas caroler mannekin battered but still standing.
The flags
True colors; Mayfield is becoming a city of flags; the post office flagpole is gone but the Stars and Stripes are back up; “and our flag was still there ...”
Berry Craig is a professor emeritus of history at West KY Community College, and an author of seven books and co-author of two more. (Read the rest on the Contributors page.)
