Every historic building has a story to tell
I celebrate women’s history almost every day, first and foremost as a woman and a historian. The notion of containing the recognition of women and their role in our lives and communities to just one month seems stifling and almost silly, but I do recognize the immense value of Women’s History Month in educating the (read more)
Category: Bourbon County
Tags: #kentuckyarchitecture, #parisky
Author’s Note: The authors and content creators of Gardens to Gables typically attempt to avoid confrontational topics and as such this post may “ruffle the feathers” of ornithologists, entomologists, archaeologists, and Baptists alike. That being said, I speak from a position of observation and no ill feelings are intended. People find the coming spring (read more)
Categories: Kentucky Gardens, Warren County
Tags: #birds, #purplemartins, Spring
While sifting through historic images for a project in Louisville, Kentucky, this morning, I came across this fabulous mid-20th century photograph of the Arcade Barbershop on Taylor Boulevard. The caption for the image didn’t provide a street number, so I considered posting the image and letting the hive mind tell me if the brick building (read more)
Category: Louisville
Tags: #louisvilleky, archives
I knew it was coming – and I’ve never seen a more wonderful spot of color amidst last fall’s leaves. The first of the Narcissus Mando, a 1959 Guy Wilson hybrid, is blooming in one of the front porch garden beds. Very soon, a riot of color shall follow, for I have planted hundreds of (read more)
Category: Kentucky Gardens
Tags: #jonquils, #kentuckygarden, daffodils
As some folks may know (especially if you follow Gardens to Gables on Instagram and are privy to my frequent venting about the weather), the snow in January and February – and that snow’s refusal to melt and disappear – has resulted in my children missing 12 days of school since the New Year (14 (read more)
Categories: Kentucky Gardens, Other Places
Tags: #CincinnatiMusicHall, #CincinnatiOH, #kentuckyweather, winter
There’s a hill in the Clifton neighborhood in Louisville, a long slow climb up from Beargrass Creek in Butchertown – a fitting site for a splendid movie theater at the dawn of a new century. The Hilltop Theater, a two-story edifice clad in glazed white brick, with a dramatic recessed entrance, has delighted those (read more)
Category: Jefferson County
Tags: #historicmovietheater, #kentuckyarchitecture, #louisvilleky, #moviemagic
In the spring of 2018, I shared a photo from the Lafayette Studios Collection on the Gardens to Gables Facebook page. The black and white image shows a two-story, brick, Italianate style house from the late 19th century. The photo was captioned “Alf Ruh Estate; exterior front of house with tall trees in the (read more)
Category: Fayette County
Tags: #kentuckyarchitecture, #lexingtonky, #oldhouselove, #parkersmillroad
One of the most common questions I field from readers is “How do you decide what buildings to photograph?” It’s probably easier to answer that question by flipping it around, so that I can contemplate what I don’t stop to capture with my camera. That list is pretty short: new buildings, uninspired cookie-cutter houses from (read more)
Category: Nicholas County
Tags: #carlisleKY, #kentuckyarchitecture, #vernaculararchitecure
A stroll down the 500 block of Chestnut Street in Bowling Green, Kentucky quickly brings to mind the Sesame Street song: “One of these things is not like the other; One of these things doesn’t belong.” Situated in a block occupied by remnant mid-nineteenth century, side and central passage homes surrounded by mostly modern (read more)
Category: Warren County
Tags: #bowlinggreenky, #kentuckyarchitecture, #missionstylearchitecture
The season of tulips, jonquils, and other spring blooming bulbs seems very far away right now, as Kentucky is held captive by a polar vortex of bitterly cold temperatures and the ground lies inert under several inches of snow and ice. Traveling out and away from the agony of winter sounds delightful, but alas (read more)
Category: Allen County
Interested in a specific topic? Check out some popular categories below, or enter your search terms in the box.