So I’m up to 39 out of 120. Almost a third of the state done. Though looking at this map, there are clearly a few that for one reason or another I keep missing. What’s my problem with Lee County?
No Destination: Railroad in La Grange
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| Thirty trains travel each day down La Grange’s Main Street |
For those of you who read Monday’s post, you were probably wondering why I didn’t mention the crazy railroad that goes down Main Street in La Grange. If you looked closely at the picture, you noticed what I am talking about.
With parking on both sides of Main Street, there is no “wiggle room” when the CSX train comes barreling down at a maximum 10 mph. Nate tells the tale of a woman who frantically called her husband to tell him she had been in a car accident. Asked what happened, she told her spouse that she had run into a train. Only in La Grange.
Embedded below is a YouTube video (not mine) of a train coming down Main Street La Grange:
I can assure you that it is a very strange feeling to walk right up to a moving train.
Henry County Courthouse – New Castle, Ky.
New Castle always seems slightly depressing to me. My only experiences in the county seat of Henry County have been on depressing rainy days. And my last trip through Henry County was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, the courthouse above is a beautiful old building, but downtown New Castle could use a little TLC. It’s a downtown that could really use a little revitalization, as there are a lot of really interesting old buildings that are still standing. I’ve found that most people are surprised that the county seat of Henry County isn’t in Eminence, the larger community down the road.
No Destination: Rob Morris House
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| Dr. Robert Morris House in La Grange, Kentucky |
Almost every American community contains a site that involves the Freemasons. This is especially true in La Grange, Kentucky. La Grange was once home to a Masonic College (from 1844 to 1873) and was the home to Dr. Rob Morris from 1860 until his death in 1888.
Morris founded the Order of the Eastern Star (a sister organization to Freemasonry, believing that some of the benefits of the Freemasons should be available to the female relatives of Masons) and was named the Poet Laureate of Freemasonry in 1884.
His most famous poem, The Level and the Square, was written in 1854. Excerpts follow [full text here]:
We meet upon the level and we part upon the square;
There’s a world where all are equal we’re coming to it fast
We shall meet upon the level there when the days on earth are past
We shall stand before the altar and our Master will be there
To try the blocks we offer with his own unerring square
We shall meet upon the level there but never thence depart
There’s a Mansion—‘tis all ready for each trusting, faithful heart
There’s a Mansion and a welcome and a multitude is there
Who have met upon the level and been tried upon the square.
The home pictured above was Morris’ second home in La Grange. Morris’ first home was burned in 1861 due to the pro-Union stance taken by Dr. Morris; he moved to the pictured home in 1862. The residence was erected in 1840. Since 1918, the property has been owned by the Order of the Eastern Star as a shrine and museum.
Carroll County Courthouse – Carrollton, Ky.
Downtown Carrollton is really pretty, and couldn’t be any closer to the river. Main Street backs right up to the river, and the street that used to sit north of Main has long been washed away. The courthouse square you see above is enormous and beautiful, and was built in 1884.
walkLEX: Behold, Lexington
The eastern entrance to downtown Lexington, to become a CVS pharmacy.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
walkLEX: Sidewalks Be Gone
Brick sidewalks in Lexington’s downtown are disappearing. In their place will be concrete (bad, ugly) and rain gardens (good). A little of all three. Currently work is occuron on the north side of Main between Limestone and Broadway, with work to follow on the south side of Main and on both sides of Vine. All is to be complete by the WEG.
Oh, and the same thing is also happening on Short in front of the Security Trust Bank Building, only without the “good” of rain gardens.
No Destination: LaGrange
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| Main Street in historic La Grange, Kentucky |
As Nate alluded to last week, we visited Oldham County’s seat a few weeks ago. Founded in 1827, this community community was not incorporated until 1840. Named for the home of General Lafayette (the Château de la Grange-Bléneau), some suggest that LaGrange is severely haunted and may be part of the so-called “Fayette Factor.” (An anomaly that I’ve discovered and intend on researching at length.).
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| DeHaven Baptist Church |
I think what stands out about La Grange is that it remains a thriving community. Despite a population of less than 5,700 (2000 Census), La Grange’s downtown is filled with active and successful businesses. Remarkable for a town of its size, particularly in our current economic downturn. Pictured above is Main Street with several of the businesses visible: Karen’s Book Barn, the Red Pepper Deli and Cafe, the 1887 Corner Store. A great toy store. Unfortunately, we visited on a Sunday and many of the shops were closed.
Several of Kentucky’s towns emphasize history and La Grange certainly counts itself among this class. The Historical Society has preserved churches and other historical structures (its HQ consists of an entire city block!) One of the most architecturally impressive structures is the DeHaven Baptist Church (pictured at right).
Trimble County Courthouse – Bedford, Ky.
Trimble County is an interesting place. I think the courthouse in Bedford is one of the prettiest smaller courthouses in the state, and Bedford is full of history. Just outside of Bedford, the remains of the plantation where escaped slave and abolitionist newspaper publisher Henry Bibb spent years as a slave. I got the chance to visit the site a couple of years ago.
I really hope that they don’t end up building some huge judicial center to replace the courthouse pictured above. Peter will probably blog about this later, but I feel that I have to talk about the old County jail that sits in the courthouse square in Trimble. The jail is like something you would see out of the old west – a big stone block building with little slits in the side. And this jail was in use UNTIL 1983. Just think about that for a second.
No Destination: Lewis & Clark
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| Historic Marker 2214 at the Shelby County Courthouse |
Kentucky has a lot of connections with the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. A few years ago in commemoration of the bicentennial of the expedition, Kentucky erected a number of historic markers commemorating these connections.
Marker 2214 in Shelbyville reads:
Meriwether Lewis & William Clark, leaders of the 1803-06 journety to the Pacific, visited Shelbyville several times. In Nov. 1806, on the Expedition’s return, Lewis arrived with Expedition veterans, Mandan & Osage Indian delegations bound for Washington, DC.
and
In Shelbyville on Oct. 28, 1809, Clark learned of the death of his Expedition partner, Meriwether Lewis. Clark stopped in town when traveling eastward and read a newspaper report that Lewis had killed himself in Tennessee.
Clark, of course, was a Kentuckian. Lewis was a Virginian and was President Jefferson’s personal secretary when he was tapped to lead the expedition. William Clark was selected upon the recommendation of his brother, George Rogers Clark. [cite]