Its rather odd to find three school districts who border each other have a school by the same name in all three. That was the case in Clay, Leslie and Perry County Kentucky until several years ago. I have already covered the closed Big Creek Elementary School in Leslie County in this blog. That school closed several years ago. The school covered in this entry is the Big Creek Elementary that was located in Perry County.
The school is located near the intersection of Kentucky 80 and Kentucky 1096 in the community of Avawam about 8 miles west of Hazard near the Perry/Leslie County line. 
Big Creek Elementary was closed in 2014 due to declining enrollment and a planned consolidation of schools in Perry County. At the end of the 2013-14 school year Big Creek was home to 136 students in grades K-8.
Tag: Old School
Booker T Washington School — Hopkinsville, Kentucky
The Booker T Washington School is located on Second Street and until 1922 was named the Jackson Street School.
Following integration of local public schools, Booker T. Washington housed classes for several programs, including middle school students, Head Start and adult literacy. The building has been vacant for about 15 years.
In early 2010 a fire damaged an entire wing of the school and in March of that year that secion of the school was demolished.
Wrigley Elementary — Morgan County, Kentucky
Wrigley Elementary was built in the community of Wrigley in Morgan County about 8 miles north of the county seat of West Liberty near the intersection of state routes 7 and 711.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
The building was built in 1936 as part of the WPA (works progress administration) and was constructed of cut stone similar to many school buildings in eastern Kentucky of this vintage including the schools at Ages (Harlan County) and Cannel City (Morgan County)
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
In 2007 Morgan County consolidated three schools into West Liberty Elementary leaving this building closed to students. In 2012 that school was destroyed by the devastating West Liberty tornado. A school was rebuilt between the communities of West Liberty and Wrigley and named Wrigley Elementary. That new facility opened in January 2014.
Melvin Grade School — Floyd County, Kentucky
This is the former Melvin Grade School located in Melvin, Kentucky.
The school is located along state highway 466 in southern Floyd County. The school was originally constructed in 1949 and replaced a one room school at nearby Abner and a three room school at nearby Weeksburry. 
The Melvin Grade School served the community for nearly 40 years. A neat picture of 8th grade class from 1985 can be found by clicking HERE
The school closed at the end of the 1997-98 school year. The grounds currently serve as the grounds for a junk yard.
Shady Valley Elementary — Johnson County, Tennessee
Shady Valley School is one of the few WPA school buildings still being utilized that I have came across in my travels.
The building was built in 1936. 
Today the school still serves around 50 students.
Fines Creek School — Haywood County, North Carolina
Fines Creek is one of the first communities you come across when you cross into Haywood County, North Carolina coming from Tennessee.
In 1926 Fines Creek Township and a portion of White Oak were consolidated into a special school-taxing district. The new district gave pupils access to one of the five standard high schools in Haywood County. Districts were numbered without regard to Townships. At the same time a bond issue of $30,000.00 was voted to erect a high school in Fines Creek. It was opened in the fall of 1926.
In 1947 Mark M, Ferguson replaced Norman James and Jim McElroy replaced Herman Holder on the committee. At that time, the enrollment was 496. Of those students 114 were high school and 381 were elementary students.
There were 19 classrooms including the library, The faculty was composed of 15 teachers, ten of whom had finished high school at Fines Creek in the last ten years, graduated from college, and then came back to teach at Fines Creek.
Fines Creek High School survived until 1966 when the high school was taken to Tuscola at Lake Junaluska.
One grade at a time classes were taken to Waynesville Middle School until there were only four grades left in 1994.
A new elementary school in Crabtree serving Crabtree, Iron Duff, Fines Creek, Panther Creek and White Oak was completed.
At that time the four remaining grades in Fines Creek were moved.
The Fines Creek community now has a twenty-year lease from the Haywood County commissioners on the two school buildings and the cafeteria
Maury High School — Dandridge, Tennessee
Maury High School was located in the town of Dandridge, Tennessee in Jefferson County.
The school was constructed in 1929. Maury High School remained in operation until 1975 when Jefferson County consolidated their high schools to form Jefferson County High School.
The school remained in use as a school until 1985 when a new elementary school was built to serve the Dandridge area.
Once the school closed the building was used for storage until 1995 when the school was closed to a private owner.
As recently as 2011 a push was made to restore the old school. A link referencing those efforts can be found by clicking HERE.
Whitley City Elementary — McCreary County, Kentucky
The former Whitley City Elementary is located in the McCreary County community and county seat of Whitley City in Southern Kentucky along US 27.
The building is a classic example of the WPA buildings that were built in the 1930s around this area, made of native sandstone. The building was built sometime around 1934.
A photo of this school just after construction was completed can be found by clicking on the link below.
Today the school sits abandoned. I found one reference to it closing in 2008 when the new Whitley City Elementary was opened.
Oil Springs High School — Johnson County, Kentucky
Oil Springs High School was located along state route 40 in Eastern Johnson County about 10 miles east of the county seat Paintsville near the Maggoffin County line.
Oil Springs High School closed at the end of the 1967-68 school year when Oil Springs, Van Lear, Meade and Flat Gap High Schools were consolidated to form Johnson Central High School. The building then housed Oil Springs Elementary for a number of years until Highland Elementary was built in nearby Staffordsville.
Today the building is home to The Oil Springs Cultural Arts and Recreation Center is part of the Route 23 Cultural Heritage Network. It is located in Johnson County Kentucky on Route 40 West. The building, once home to the Oil Springs School, now serves as a regional center for the arts.
The Oil Springs High School Gym has a history and story all of its own. The gymnasium was constructed in 1934-35 and was funded by the Works Progress Administration, a national assistance program in place from 1930 to 1941. The gymnasium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 26, 1989.
Woodlawn School — Greene County, Tennessee
This school wasnt on any google or bing maps that I could find. I did find some sources online mentioning it and geotagging it. I found this school completely by mistake as I was sort of lost on some back road between Bulls Gap and on my way to eventually making my way to Falls Branch, Tennessee. The technical directions to this school is the intersection of Horton Highway and Kenneytown Road just west of Baileyton, Tennessee.
I dont really know a lot about this school other than the fact that it is now or has recently been used as a country music venue.
Enjoy the pictures and as always, if you have more information or insight into this school or it’s history feel free to comment or message me.
Jamie in Wanderland 