Every historic building has a story to tell
Long before its association with clothing, chocolates, or the civil disobedience of actor Woody Harrelson, hemp (without the prefix “industrial”) was a mainstay of Kentucky agriculture. One of my ancestors grew hemp on his Montgomery County farm decades before the Civil War, and in 1869 Kentucky produced 7,777 tons of hemp fiber – over half of the country’s (read more)
The ache that engulfs me when a historic building is needlessly demolished pales in comparison to the visceral pain of seeing farmland chopped, desecrated, and turned into to miles of pavement. Lexington provides the perfect backdrop to examine this transition, but occasionally a vestige of those long-ago pastures and fields can be found along a busy road (read more)
My reading time these days is…limited – as is my time to scout for new additions to my library. I missed my favorite book sale of the year, held by the Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (housed in a lovely early 20th century Neoclassical building, built as the Post Office and Federal Building) in (read more)
Storytelling is a selective art, and since buildings and landscapes form the foundation of my stories, I cannot capture them all. Yesterday afternoon, while perusing Facebook (you know you do it too…), I flinched at the photograph of a bulldozer tearing into a small house in Paris, Kentucky. The realization that I photographed that house (read more)
The American Revolution was not only a political liberation, but a cultural one too – and I think the best way to visualize that cultural revolution is to look at the architecture produced in this country during the 19th century. The classical world was put on a pedestal, and one of the styles to emerge (read more)
I am not a trainspotter. That said, I completely subscribe to the romance of travel by rail (even having experienced the seediness of rail travel in many European countries) – a transportation option not readily available in the Bluegrass. Perhaps a tiny bit of the railroad is in my blood – after all, the railroad (read more)
Science was not my strongest subject in school, but chlorophyll always fascinated me. In my mind’s eye, scores of thirsty plants absorbed the rays of the sun with zeal after winter’s gloom – nothing short of magic. Not unlike those plants, I too gravitate toward the light streaming from the sky this time of year. (read more)
When I took a break from writing the afternoon of January 30, 2016, I was immediately transfixed by the malevolent black clouds visible through the windows. And when I ventured onto the Internet, to all of the reports of explosions and fire ravaging the Blue Grass Stockyards, I felt sick. Since starting this blog, I’ve (read more)
Categories: Bluegrass, Farming, Fayette County, Kentucky agriculture, Vernacular
Tags: Blue Grass Stockyards, Cattle, fire, Kentucky farms, stockyards
Old photographs for sale in antique or second-hand stores always give me pause. I wonder about the unknown names associated with those forgotten faces, and also – who buys these photographs? Someone in search of insta-ancestor? Historic photographs not only provide a glimpse into the past at faces familiar and dear (and sometimes comical), but (read more)
Change, I think, is one of the most difficult things to accept in life, yet it is a constant force (just like death and taxes). Change moves and works on the landscape around us like the tide, ceaselessly lapping and ever so slightly shifting, until one day – everything is completely different. In March 2015, (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Bluegrass, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture, Lexington, Lexington neighborhoods
Tags: American Foursquare, black rot, burley tobacco, demolition, Dr. Valleau, Man of the Year in Kentucky Agriculture, planning and development, plant pathology, Rodes Addition, South Limestone, University of Kentucky, William Dorney Valleau
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