Thanks to the magic (ha!) of social media, this blog has some new followers with many questions. Although many Kentucky readers know who I am and my background, I can’t assume that everyone is acquainted with the facts – hence, this primer of sorts on who I am and why this blog (and its associated social media platforms) exists. First things first: I am an architectural historian, a profession that is my day job (the one that pays the bills) and my passion (this blog, which I write in my free time). My undergraduate degree is from Centre College, and I hold a masters in historic preservation from the University of Kentucky. I’ve listed over 25 historic resources – both individual buildings and districts – in the National Register of Historic Places. Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked in the public and private sectors, and written more reports than I care to enumerate.
Yep, that’s me. On the porch on an old family house with three separate building campaigns: 1800, 1850, and 1876.
The predecessor to Gardens to Gables was a blog about my travels in England, but getting back and forth across the pond with any regularity wasn’t really feasible on a historian’s salary.
Broughton Castle, a moated, medieval manor house in Oxfordshire, England.
So when a friend suggested I write about Kentucky, I gave it some thought. I knew, from my time working at the State Historic Preservation Office, how much valuable archival material was contained within filing cabinets and shelves of a government agency.
Cottages in Lexington, Kentucky.
Hundreds of reports and survey forms are produced that document Kentucky’s built landscape, but very, very little of that information ever makes it back out to the communities that are home to these buildings and landscapes. After I wrote a report about my survey work in Crittenden and Livingston Counties, and folks started asking if they could buy copies of the report, I knew there were people who wanted to know about the old barns, root cellars, and farmhouses scattered across the Commonwealth.
I sold over 50 copies of this report for $20.00. (I didn’t collect the money; it went to maintain our poor copy machine!)
Gardens to Gables was born from my desire to give back to this place that has given me so much. The foundation of this blog is to share the extraordinary breadth and beauty of Kentucky’s historic architecture and places with a wider audience.
Daffodils are, I think, my favorite flower. I’ve planted over 3,000 and each fall, I keep planting.
And not just buildings – but occasionally, landscapes and gardens as well (although I will admit I don’t write about gardens nearly as much as I do gables – because it is hard to write when you are outside, dirt under your nails, weeding, planting, and attempting to avoid poison ivy. But I am an ardent gardener. )
Wayland High School, Floyd County, Kentucky.
While I’ve worked in several states, I am a native of Kentucky, the daughter of a farmer, and a lover of stories. I make no money from Gardens to Gables, and while I would love to have a team of people developing and sharing content, it’s just…me. (I do have a fabulous Southcentral Kentucky correspondent, Eric Thomason, who contributes wonderful blog posts from time to time, and is always up for a road trip.)
Eric Thomason with a fine example of a agricultural outbuilding in Warren County, Kentucky.
While I write about various topics, and share articles and images on both Facebook and Instagram, my primary interest is vernacular architecture. I don’t care that much about the style of a building, other than to enjoy it aesthetically and as a marker of when it was possibly constructed/renovated. * What I really enjoy are the historic houses built by everyday people, and the interior layout or plan of these dwellings.
An 1830s house in Mercer County, Kentucky…
And the plan of that house, drawn by the incomparable William J. Macintire.
While my graduate school work focused my attention and interest on vernacular architecture and house types, I must also give credit to my roots. My family came to Kentucky – Fayette and Mercer Counties – in the 18th century. In the 1820s, two of my great-great-great grandfathers moved east in search of cheaper land, and 200 years later, I live on the land they purchased as young farmers.
The line of trees mark an old turnpike across our farm.
My father farmed, my oldest sister now farms, and my youngest nephew shows great promise as the next generation to guide the family farm (I hope). I grew up surrounded by stories, cousins, and a deep sense that I was as much part of the land as the trees I climbed. My children speak of the long dead with familiarity, and point out landmarks known only by family stories.
I don’t like to write about myself, but I do live in a historic house, with vinyl siding (it’s awful, but we don’t have the money to remove it and deal with the weatherboards coated with lead-based paint) and original windows. This blog isn’t an attempt at social media fame (I love to write. I have no interest in making reels or movies.) or big bucks, but it is something I love. I do my best to answer questions regarding historic architecture, history, or plants, or help people connect with professionals that love and work on historic buildings. But posts get written when I find the time or am gripped with writing fever, and sometimes I just step away from it all – when I just want to be quiet and outside, with my family. However my stories make their way to you, I hope you enjoy the journey.
*Architectural style is also a marker of what a building owner could afford and what was in fashion.
I enjoy every column you post, and I hope that you continue. Hopefully the content that I have sent you will be useful someday.
I am not new to your blog but knew little of this and am so glad you shared your background. I grew up in Madison County and watched old houses and buildings in Richmond and the county get torn down rather than restored with dismay and disgust. I am amazed you can be so apolitical and use all my self control to keep from commenting. I love seeing and reading about your discoveries.
I really enjoy learning from you and seeing pictures of old houses I haven’t seen. Thank you for what you do!
I loved reading every word of this.
I’ve spent my life around old houses: loving, living, restoring. I really admire what you do. It is a heartbreaking job, to try to hold on to those remnants of the past. Reading Sally’s comment above—agree with everything she said.
I listed my blog address but haven’t written anything new in ages. If I were to write anything new it would be about how hard it is to let go of that great Southern sense of place.
I migrate between San Francisco, Louisville, Winchester, and our farm in Hickman Co Ky. (I know, it’s crazy.)
Thanks again for your writings.
Liz Jewell
Janie-Rice,
May I say that this is a perfect post — the writing, the self-reflection, the thoughtful (self-deprecating) humor, the knowledge rumbling under the surface, all of it.
I knew it was Good, when I thought to myself, “Eudora Welty!” — when I read “My children speak of the long dead with familiarity…”.
Thank you.
Kelly Scott
Oh, you are making me blush. Eudora Welty! I could only aspire to 1/4 of a pale, much reduced imitation of her…
I’m re-reading her “Delta Wedding” (1945) ……… thought of you when young Laura arrived from Jackson for a stay at her treasured relations’ old plantation house, “Shellmound”:
“On the narrow little walk along the front of the house, hung over with closing lemon lilies, there was a quieting and vanishing of sound. It was not quite yet dark. The sky was the color of violets, and the snow-white moon in the sky had not yet begun to shine. Where it hung above the water tank, back of the house, the swallows were circling busy as a top. By the flaky front steps a thrush was singing waterlike notes from the sweet-olive tree, which was in flower; it was not too dark to see the breast of the thrush or the little white blooms either. Laura remembered everything, with the fragrance and the song. She looked up the steps through the porch, where there was a wooden scroll on the screen door that her finger knew how to trace, and lifted her eyes to an old fanlight, now reflecting a skyey light as of a past summer….”
Thank you for sharing! I love your posts and have wondered about the background . I share with you both a multi generational farm history and a CoD degree from UK. Armchair travel around Kentucky with you is a treat.
Interested in following your work
Interested in Your work. Hope to follow future pists
I’m so glad I found your page. I love historic houses and your pictures and stories remind me of my hometown of Carrollton, Ky. So many of your posts have houses with the very same design as ones that I passed every day. Thank you for all the work you do to bring us these beautiful homes.
I have enjoyed your writing/documentation of historic Kentucky structures for a few years now. Please keep it up – you are great!
Thank you Tom!
I loved the history of the Shewmaker farm in Mercer County. Ate many good
meals there with your family and friends, and spent the night several times.
Thanks so much for your work and writing. Your articles are a joy. It allows me to enjoy an area of interest that I could not figure out how to make a living doing in the 70’s.
I loved your re-introduction. Very interesting.
I think you have done the two front doors before – I don’t know what you call them, but the house has a set in porch, and two doors, one in the projection , the edge of the porch, and the other in the place you would expect. Why are there two doors? There are so many in Paris, and about half of them have closed up the second door. They are in houses in a group, a development?, about 1910-1920.
Great work! I’d like to see more.
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Janie-Rice, you came along (I think) after I had retired from active preservation work. I think we met once or twice. I really enjoy your posts and your thoughts about history, family, roots, etc.
Please keep on doing what you do so well.
Mary Jean
Janie-Rice, I look so forward to your posts and admire your enthusiasm and spirit. I sold my family farm in Warren County—we would never live there. My farmer bought as much of it as he could but a developer got a third, which soon will begin to be turned into homes of some sort. A bittersweet end to the second oldest continuous family farm in the state.