Every historic building has a story to tell
It’s a busy Monday, and amid the bustle of work and life, I don’t know when I will be able to write a blog post. But I have determined to steal 15 minutes and share this lovely historic house, in hopes that it brings some joy to your day. Built in 1901 for an (read more)
Category: Louisville
Tags: #historicdistrict, #kentuckyarchitecture, #louisvilleky, #oldlouisville, #stjamesbelgravia
The circa 1894 Covington Brothers Wholesale Grocery Building in Paducah, Kentucky, at the corner of Jefferson and North Third Streets, is facing a likely emergency demolition. Is there anyone in Paducah who could go take some photographs of all elevations of the building for me before its destruction? The three story brick building, home (read more)
Category: McCracken County
Tags: #demolitionbyneglect, #kentuckyarchitecture, #paducahky
Spring weather in Kentucky is always unpredictable, but when the meteorologists started predicting rainfall amounts last week, my breath caught. On the second of April, I was up most of the night monitoring the tornado warnings. The rain started on Thursday, April 3, 2025. By the end of the day on Friday, our rain gauge (read more)
Category: Franklin County
Tags: #april2025floods, #kentuckyfloods
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
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