Every historic building has a story to tell
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Grayson County School Board embarked on an ambitious school building campaign across the west-central Kentucky county. Around 100 one-room schools were ultimately constructed, serving schoolchildren in scattered, small, rural communities. One of the survivors is the one-story, 30-foot long Walnut Grove School, built in 1911. Since my (read more)
Categories: Grayson County, Schools
Twenty years can really change a person – or a building. As to the former, I think I would barely recognize the me of 20 years ago (and that’s not a bad thing!). Searching for a house documented two decades ago is often a desolate task culminating too often with the notation “no longer extant.” (read more)
Category: Clay County
Tags: Oneida Baptist Institute, T-plan, vernacular Kentucky architecture
The first (and maybe last!) time I felt joyful and excited about filling a car up for gas was during high school. I drove a light blue Ford Tempo that I christened Buffy, and like most teenagers at the time, I loved the freedom of being able to drive. Even spending my hard-earned dollars to (read more)
Historic preservation is too often a reactive process – and I hate writing about demolished buildings. The best thing for historic houses? To be a home, to be occupied, to be a place of life and energy. For that to happen, houses that may need a little love and affection must be purchased by someone (read more)
Category: Historic Houses for Sale
I’ve been known to drive slowly through a town, peering up and down streets for rooflines that may catch my eye, or distinctive architectural details visible through a tangle of powerlines and traffic lights. A small brick building with a front gable orientation and a bevy of brackets at the cornice line fairly screamed at (read more)
Category: Wolfe County
Vital Sites bought this distinctive, wood frame corner store in 2019 to save it from demolition. If you look past the plywood boards and mismatched paint scheme, you’ll find one of the last remaining wood frame corner stores in the Portland neighborhood – perhaps in Louisville – with many of its Queen Anne architectural features (read more)
There are so many historic buildings and stories across our wonderful Commonwealth than one person can possibly discover and relate their stories to a wider audience. I am always delighted when I have a chance to learn more about a cool building, and in the process, introduce another voice to this platform. Stay tuned tomorrow (read more)
Categories: Guest Post, Jefferson County
I’m not a big user of Twitter. Most of the accounts I follow belong to historic homes and gardens in England. So when I received a notification of a tweet from someone I did not know, I figured it was a spam tweet. Instead, that tweet led to the 1920s and a young woman from (read more)
Category: Menifee County
Tags: #frenchburgky, #historicschools
The greatest roadside attraction of the early 20th century is for sale!* Wigwam Village, the quirky, kitschy, and delightful motor court with steel frame and concrete sleeping rooms in the shape of tepees, is on the market. I may be a bit biased about the appeal of Wigwam Village, as I am a fan of (read more)
The Moore family of Mercer County, described in a historic account as an “influential Southern family,” left behind many examples of their prominent roles in business, banking, law, medicine, and farming in Kentucky – including a street named after the family and some lovely dwellings. Mooreland captured the hearts of many in its gut wrenching (read more)
Categories: Demolition, Mercer County
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