Title: Oral History Interview with Sam Parker, December 5, 2000. Interview K-0252.
Identifier: K-0252
Interviewer: Amberg, Rob
Interviewee: Parker, Sam
Subjects: Farm life--North Carolina    Madison County (N.C.)    Express highways--North Carolina    Parker, Sam    
Extent: 01:28:57
Abstract:  This interview is more about a lack of industrialization in North Carolina than the state's development, but offers an interesting perspective on growth. Sam Parker, Madison County Probation and Parole Officer, praises rural life in the interview. Parker left a job at an insurance agency in the 1960s to settle in the hills of Madison County, where he lived for a while without electricity and grew his own food. In this interview, he discusses his decision to leave the comforts of suburbia and the appeal of living a somewhat ascetic lifestyle, where community connections take the place of Internet connections. Parker sees this lifestyle declining, but does not condemn development or mourn its passing.