“Corn Island is more than a place—it’s a metaphor for what slips away. The Corn Island Project listens beneath the surface, where the stories we need most are still waiting to be heard.”
I’m Christopher Padgett, a Kentucky-born family historian, storyteller, and caregiver—both to my aging mother and to the fragile histories that risk being forgotten. As her memory fades, I’ve come to see how easily whole worlds can slip away if we don’t hold them with care.
That understanding has reshaped my work.
Through the Corn Island Project, I explore the quiet edges of history—lost places, at-risk records, and the overlooked lives that shaped who we are. Especially here in Kentucky, where memory runs deep but isn’t always written down.
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s stewardship. A quiet act of resistance against forgetting—for my family, and maybe yours too.
If you’ve ever felt the past brushing up against the present, or sensed a story stirring just below the surface, you’re not alone. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be.
Why subscribe?
Because memory is fragile—and what we don’t preserve, we risk losing forever.
Across the country, history is being erased in quiet ways and loud ones. Records are tossed in dumpsters. Archives go underfunded. The stories of everyday people—especially those outside the spotlight—slip through the cracks. And once they’re gone, they don’t come back.
That’s why this project exists.
The Corn Island Project is an act of care. It’s about documenting vanishing places, endangered records, and lives history didn’t think to write down. It’s about reckoning with the past—not rewriting it—and about honoring the stories that still shape who we are.
Your subscription helps make that possible. I work independently, without institutional funding or outside influence. Subscribing means more time in the field, more records saved, more stories told—and more of Kentucky’s deep, complex past brought into the light.
If you believe in preserving memory—not just for yourself, but for those who come after—this is your invitation to be part of it.
Free subscribers get:
✅ My newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox—sharing overlooked histories, endangered records, family stories, and quiet reflections on what we’ve lost and what still endures.
Paid subscribers get:
🌱 Everything in the free tier, plus:
Community access: Join the conversation—comment on posts, share your own stories, and connect with others who care about memory, place, and the fragile threads of history.
Fieldnotes & extras: Occasional behind-the-scenes dispatches from archives, courthouses, and forgotten landmarks—plus deeper dives into the records and sources I work with.
Founding members receive all of the above, and:
✉️ A direct line of communication for thoughtful exchanges—whether you’re researching your own story, advocating for local preservation, or just want to talk through an idea. I'm here for it.
Why consider a paid subscription?
I work independently—no grants, no institutions, no algorithms to please. Just time, care, and deep research. Every story I share comes from hours spent in archives, old books, digitized microfilm, forgotten courthouses, and cemeteries most people don’t even know exist.
Your support helps me:
📚 Preserve at-risk records and highlight fragile sources that often go undocumented
🏛 Visit libraries, courthouses, and local archives
📝 Share fieldwork strategies and methods for family historians and local researchers
🕯 Keep memory alive—for families, for communities, and for a state that deserves to be remembered in full
If we don’t preserve these stories—especially the quiet ones, the ordinary ones, the ones history almost forgot—who will?
If this work resonates with you, I’d be honored to have your support.
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Tags: Family history, Kentucky, Ohio River, Genealogy, Forgotten history, Endangered records, Caregiving and memory, preservation, Louisville, Archives
