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walkLEX: Statue of Gen. J. H. Morgan

John Hunt Morgan Statue
Statue of Gen. John Hunt Morgan  – Lexington, Ky.

In front of the old Fayette County Courthouse (now the Lexington History Museum) stands a statute of General John Hunt Morgan, the “thunderbolt of the Confederacy.” He is mounted upon his noble steed, Black Bess. Sculpted by Pompeo Coppini in 1911, the statue is the only monument in Kentucky of the Civil War with a soldier on horseback.

As the story is told, Coppini arrived from New York for the great unveiling of his work. With dignitaries present, it was exclaimed upon the falling of the curtain that “Black Bess got balls!”

You see, Black Bess was a mare but Coppini had thought it undignified. “No hero should bestride a mare,” he had explained. An anonymous poet later wrote:

So darkness comes to Bluegrass men —
Like darkness o’er them falls —
For well we know gentlemen should show
Respect for a lady’s balls

walkLEX: Courthouse Plaza Topiary

walkLEX is the newest section of The Kaintuckeean. It will catalogue some of the sights in downtown Lexington as experienced by the authors. walkLEX is different from the Kentucky120 Project and No Destinations in that each post will focus on a small component of downtown Lexington, rather than on a town or county. This first post, on a topiary in the courthouse plaza is the perfect example.


After Nate posted about the Fayette County courthouse, Martha asked about the ‘wire horse’ located in front of the Circuit Courthouse.

I can’t figure out who designed it, but this twelve-foot tall Horse Topiary was placed in the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza in April 2009 as Lexington prepares for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Sustainable plants and flowers are slowly taking over the topiary and it should be filled in by the time the Plaza is used during the Games.

World Equestrian Games 2010


UPDATE (9-25-2010): Photographed nearly a year to the day after my original photo, you can see that the topiary is not completely filled. Even so, it is a nice accent for downtown and all the Spotlight Lexington festivities.

No Destination: London

I intended to go to Powell County and to Stanton before returning home. But rather then turning in Livingston, I went straight. Oops. I discovered my mistake upon seeing the “Laurel County” sign.

The drive into London on US-25(S) is beautiful as you drive through the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains. I called a friend who now lives in London, hoping to stop in for a visit. As a result of my ill-timed phone call, I missed Camp Wildcat (which was the site of an 1861 Civil War skirmish). But that was OK as the plum tart was well worth it!

I will leave London to Nate and to the Kentucky 120 Project as the town was built around its Courthouses. The county courthouse looks older than it is. Even so, a new courthouse is under construction. There is an old federal courthouse, as well as a new one (pictured). Quite a judicial metropolis for a town of only 6,000 inhabitants.

I hope to visit Laurel County again to visit its non-London areas: the Cumberland Gap, the original KFC and the annual World Chicken Festival (which I missed by only two weeks!).

No Destination: Livingston

Of the three incorporated communities in Rockcastle County – Brodhead, Mt. Vernon and Livingston – Livingston was my favorite. And I don’t know why.

According to the 2000 Census, the population was 228. The old graded school was boarded up and over 1-in-4 persons live below the poverty line. Even so, the man sitting on the steps of the school spoke fondly of what the town once was. He recalled his years at the graded school fondly and how the community had once been vibrant. I discovered the following:

But Livingston has no hotel, no drug store or bank or any of these sundry establishments. There was a time when all these and more were present. Not one, but four hotels and numerous boarding houses catered to temporary residents. Not one, but two doctors tended human frailty. All that remain now are ghosts, faint echoes of a once-prosperous past when Livingston was a busy and exciting place to live. Livingston’s Main Street, at the heart of the town, is a place of padlocked doors and boarded windows, of burned and sagging buildings, of broken glass and rotting timbers and unswept dust.

The last source of pride was the Livingston Graded School, which served the community from 1927 to 1994. It closed in the wake of school consolidation and budget cuts as Kentucky sought to modernize its education system.

There is a memorial park in Livingston with a memorial to the Graded School, saying “Can’t Hide the Pride.” Hopefully, this community will again one day have a source of pride.

Also in this memorial park is a beautiful 9-11 memorial. Standing at about 12 feet tall, it is a complete surprise and worthy of being found in a community/town/city of any size. Because in Livingston, you cannot hide the pride.

No Destination: Mount Vernon

As the county seat of Rockcastle County, I anticipated too much of little Mt. Vernon. In truth, it is certainly not a fault of the people. Walking through downtown, I passed the closed (it was a Sunday) Tea Cup Cafe (pictured in the saloon-looking structure) as the owners were exiting. A short conversation revealed that they are working hard to increase the image of Mt. Vernon. The sidewalks need fixing and other downtown improvements are needed – but the good news is that members of this little community recognize and desire these improvements.

On one end of Main Street is the courthouse and new judicial center – which I will leave for Nate to discuss. It was, at best, disappointing (though none of the citizenry seemed to miss the old courthouse either). The town is named after George Washington’s Virginia home; the county after an observation by a hunting party that a rock in the area resembled a castle.

One destination missed on my sojourn is Rockcastle County’s most famous attraction: Renfro Valley. Located two miles north of Mt. Vernon, Renfro Valley is Kentucky’s Country Music Capital is the home to a popular entertainment center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

No Destination: Brodhead

Entering into the mountain region is simply breathtaking. Throughout the rest of the days’ drive, the scenery was beautiful.

The Rockcastle County community of Brodhead is the home of the Little World’s Fair. The Fair has been an annual event for over 100 years and is now a weeklong fundraiser for the Brodhead Volunteer Fire Department. A curve in the road, Brodhead is at the headwaters of the Dix River. Originally named Stigalls Station, the town was renamed in the late 1860s when it became a stop on the L&N Railroad.

I tend to do a little ‘Googling’ when posting about my travels, and I was surprised to find the following tidbit from Brodhead’s past: “Aug 10, 1993 – In Brodhead, Ky., a man who sat in a lawn chair guarding his marijuana field with an assault rifle was shot to death by police after a daylong standoff.” [And unlike Nate earlier this week in Campton, I felt perfectly comfortable in Brodhead.]

No Destination: Preachersville

When I saw this little town on the map, I wanted to drive through and see a church called “Preachersville [Blank] Church.” Special thanks to the United Methodists for fulfilling my photographic curiosity.

Preachersville, Kentucky is a quiet farming community in Lincoln County between Lancaster (Garrard) and Crab Orchard (Lincoln). Near the Dix River, it was unsurprisingly named because – there were a lot of preachers who lived in the area. Apparently, the concentration of ministers was more dense in this area then in any other region of the country as Preachersville is the only community in the United States to hold this unique name.

Today, it is the home of two churches. The Drakes Creek Baptist Church (c. 1860, but the building burned and the new church was built in the 1960s) and the Preachersville United Methodist Church. The Methodist Church, pictured above, was established and built in 1891.

This area of Lincoln County is beautiful. The foothills of the Appalachians lie on the horizon and the rolling hills are fertile. I made this trip a couple weeks ago and on that Sunday, the weather was perfect: the grass greener and the skies bluer.

Before leaving Lincoln County, I travelled through another small community: Crab Orchard. Near the end of the Logan Trace of the Wilderness Trail, Crab Orchard was famed for its mineral springs. Apparently, it was not uncommon for 400-500 guests to visit the springs each day through the 1920s. Crab Orchard also had at least one curiosity: the water tower evidences the divide experienced by families in this area during the Civil War. The water tower reads “Crab Orchard: Embracing our Past” with the American and Confederate flags painted on either side.