In the early days of our history wherever two or more roads – often not much more than trails – crossed, a small village might develop. A general store, perhaps operated by the original settler or landowner, would be built. Then a few more buildings would be added: a public house or tavern, then barns, fences, doctor’s office, church, post office and more farms. Some crossroads villages became towns or otherwise retained their identity through the decades, Crabapple in Milton, for example. Others disappeared. Fields Crossroads, also in Milton, is one example. Birmingham Crossroads at the intersection of Birmingham Highway, Birmingham Road and its extension Hickory Flat Road is our topic for today.
Its name is somewhat a mystery. There are more than a dozen towns and cities in the U.S. named Birmingham, presumably named after the English city. One of Birmingham Crossroads’ early residents Wade McCurry (1888-1973) challenged that notion according to a circa 1960s interview in a local newspaper. According to McCurry, the crossroads community got its name shortly after the Civil War from the odor of meat cooking in log homes that smelled like “burnin’ hams” to farmers from the mountains who camped in the community en route to Atlanta to sell their produce. True or not? Sounds possible.
Wade and his wife Mentora Wood McCurry (1890-1984) settled in the community in 1907 on 125 acres near the intersection of today’s Birmingham Highway and Hickory Flats Road. Wade grew cotton which he processed at a cotton gin in Canton. His grandson Doug McCurry who lives with his wife Charna on the 3 acres remaining of the original farm says that his grandfather would leave the house at 3 a.m. with his wagon full of cotton for the 12-mile trip to Canton and return 12 hours later due to the poor roads.
The McCurrys are committed historic…
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