Every historic building has a story to tell
The construction of road and railroads tends to mark important milestones in the development of Kentucky communities. The Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad (later to become the Chesapeake and Ohio, or C&O) propelled the growth of many towns, including Olive Hill in Carter County. The northeastern Kentucky county boomed after the arrival of the (read more)
Categories: Carter County, Railroads
Tags: C&O Railroad, Olive Hill, Olive Hill Railroad Depot, Trail Town
On Friday, March 1, 1907, a “disastrous fire” tore through the Lawrenceburg Hotel and the Saloon of Mr. S.R. Howser, located within the hotel. The two-story frame building, built in 1881, was destroyed by the blaze, causing more than $25,000 in losses. By 1908, however, a new, brick building, with stone accents, stood on the (read more)
Categories: Anderson County, Bourbon, Railroads
Tags: Adaptive reuse, Lawrenceburg Hotel, Lawrenceburg Kentucky, St. Asaph Hotel
I like to “collect” buildings by type, and the historic, small town bank is one I am always excited to find. Most are no longer in service, and many are crumbling. But a few sparkle with renewed life, and the Farmer’s Bank Building, now a cafe, is a bright spot for the community of Smiths (read more)
It’s been a exhaustively hot summer in Kentucky this year. Although graced by the technology of central air conditioning, I’ve thought with longing about children’s books I read decades ago that described the decampment from urban cores to shady mountain retreats (I believe the Bobbsey Twins series even had a “fresh air camp for children” (read more)
Tourism – especially heritage tourism – can be a tough business for some communities. Small towns find their tourism dollars cut, if not eliminated, and spending money to highlight a town’s history might seem like a poor allocation of funds. I would argue the exact opposite, and there are many people who can quote the (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, National Register of Historic Places, Other Places, Railroads, Theaters, Tourism, Virginia history
Tags: C&O Railway Heritage Center, Chesapeake and Ohio, Clifton Forge Virginia, CSX Railroad, Frye and Chesterman, Heritage Tourism, Historic Masonic Theatre
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)
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