Tag: walkLEX

Bell Court is one of Lexington’s loveliest neighborhoods

The BGT deTour of Bell Court – Lexington, Ky.

About one mile east of the courthouse is one of Lexington’s small, closely knit neighborhoods: Bell Court. Upon even a cursory exploration of the neighborhood, one can understand a portion of its history. The presence of the impressive mansion at the heart of this little community bears witness to the pattern common in Lexington of “subdividing the parks and pleasure grounds of its great antebellum houses.” Birchfield, 83.

A collection of photos of properties in Bell Court as well as our guide, Jim Birchfield. 

The good news is that in the case of Bell Court, the original mansions were not razed. Note that the plural is used because two of the old mansions remain. Each is surrounded by examples of early twentieth-century architecture of the Queen Anne, Romanesque, Arts and Craft and Colonial Revival architectural styles.

And like its variety of architectural styles, the neighborhood has drawn a variety of middle- and upper- class Lexingtonians from different walks of life to create a vibrant sense of community that has been enhanced by a strong neighbhood association (active since 1964).

And while each house in Bell Court has its own beautiful story, constraints now limit their telling. What follows are the stories of Bell Place, Clay Villa, and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Bell Place (ca. 1890)

The primary property in the neighborhood is Bell Place which was constructed on the foundation of Woodside. Woodside had been designed and built by local architect Thomas Lewinski for Henry Bell on thirty-five acres of land which Bell had acquired for $8,750 in 1845. The land had originally been part of the 1,000 acres owned by Col. John Todd.

The planning and building of Woodside required eighteen months work and was completed in 1846. In 1848, Mrs. Abraham Lincoln visited with her mother and wrote in a letter to the future President:

Ma & myself rode out to Mr. Bell’s splendid place this afternoon to return a call. The house and grounds are magnificent. Birchfield, 87.

Upon his death in 1883, Henry Bell conveyed the thirty five acres and Residence to his only son, David Davis Bell (D.D. Bell). Lewinski had passed the year before and was thus unavailable to help D.D. Bell in rebuilding the family home after it burned in 1884.

Photos of the Bell House – Lexington, Ky.

Bell retained Cincinnati architect Samuel Eugene Des Jardins whose 23-page specifications for construction contains frequent “superlative of adjective and adverb [but] nowhere any requirement for economies.” Birchfield, 90-91. In other words, cost was not an issue.

The wealthy Bell was an attorney and an astute observer of Lexington’s growth. To these ends, he formulated a plan in the early 1890s to have a portion of his lands (retaining several acres around the residence) subdivided. D.D. Bell died, however, before this could be accomplished though a directive in his will prompted his widow to accomplish these aims with profits being placed in trust for their only child. Clara’s life and wealth were well-documented in a post on Bricks + Mortar.

Clay Villa (ca. 1846)

The earliest home in Bell Court was the contemporary to Woodside. In fact, Thomas Lewinski’s journals indicate that he worked on designing both Woodside and Clay Villa contemporaneously.

Clay Villa illustration by Clay Lancaster, “Vestiges of the
Venerable City,” 1978.

The Lewinski design was commissioned by Henry Clay for his son, James. (Interestingly, Clay also took the opportunity to commission Mansfield for son Thomas at also at the same time. Lewinski must have been quite busy in the 1840s!).

From the National Register application, we observe that Clay Villa is

Italianate in style with Greek Revival details, [it is] a square symmetrical brick house with hipped roof and four long interior panel chimneys; its walls are divided into three sections by applied segmental arches between wide pilaster-like forms with narrow vertical panels. NRHP.

Collage of Clay Villa. With a Forest Avenue address (frontage at top), the original
configuration would have faced Main Street (lower left).

It was James who would, after his father’s death, raze and rebuild Ashland which had reputed to have fallen into disrepair.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd –
Lexington, Ky.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd (ca. 1925)

Formed as a mission of the Christ Church in 1888, the cornerstone for the Episcopal Church at Main Street and Forest Avenue was laid on August 30, 1925. The tale told of the funding of its construction is interesting, as told in the National Register application:

The fortunes of the church were given a great boost in 1924 when the Reverend Thomas L. Settles became the first and most effective clergyman to speak to the State Legislature against the anti-pari-mutual bill, thus gaining the support of followers of the turf. Wealth and prominent leaders of the horse industry, many not members of the church, began to support the ambitious building plans of Settle and the building committee, and the sanctuary was completed in 1926.

There are 39 major stained glass windows in this beautiful Gothic Revival house of God.

Additional photographs of the Bell Court neighborhood and its magnificent resources can be found on flickr.

Again, special thanks to our tour guide of Bell Court: local historian and curator of rare books in Special Collections at the UK Library, Jim Birchfield.


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Learn more details about this exciting group on Facebook! You can also see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

The Vogt Reel House is Home to Engine Co. 4 and the Phantom

The next time you walk the increasingly popular Jefferson Street corridor, be sure to pause about midway between Main Street and West Sixth. At 246 Jefferson Street, you’ll see in action the oldest continuously operated firehouse in Lexington.

The Vogt Reel House was built in 1904 at a cost of $9,763. The appears of this 2-1/2 story brick structure is dominated by the two central brick tourelles each topped with “small domed ‘pepperpot’ tops” beneath the styled parapet. Together, it is described as being in the neo-Jacobean style.

Henry Vogt, for whom the firehouse is named, lived nearby at 534 Maryland Avenue when he donated the land for the firehouse which now hosts Engine Company No. 4. Vogt was a high end grocer who sold his goods from his shop at West Short and Broadway. At the time of his donation, he had also served on the city council for 16 years and was the Chairman of the Fire Committee.

When it opened to much fanfare, it housed “horses in stalls, five firemen and occasional neighborhood visitors, and it had a hay loft and a pot bellied stove. And later, Dalmations.”

In 2005, the center bay entry was widened so that a modern fire truck could continue to serve Downtown,Transylvania, Manchester, and Rupp Arena. The ubiquitous fire pole brings firefighters from the upper level’s living quarters to the engine level quickly. There is also an antique red spiral staircase which was originally located in the old Fayette County courthouse which burned in the late 1800s. 

The emblem on the engine for Company No. 4 depicts a skull wearing a fireman’s hat: it is the Phantom. The Phantom honors the Vogt Reel House’s ghost.

Oh, yeah. This firehouse is haunted!

Sources: Don Edwards; Firehistory; Lexington; Northside NA;

Rally Unites Artist Against the ‘Vampire Road’

Marquee for the historic Lyric Theater – Lexington, Ky.

The seats at the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Lexington were filled with people concerned and opposed to the “Vampire Road,” a nickname for the proposed I-75 Connector between Nicholasville and the interstate in Madison County. “Off the Road!” was a fantastic rally featuring an incredible collection of Kentucky artists united “to celebrate Kentucky and oppose a proposed I-75 Connector road.”

Barbara Kingsolver at the Lyric
Theatre, Sept. 19, 2013.

Barbara Kingsolver, author and Nicholas County native, explained why she was there. “I’m such an advocate of the little wild places. The little places you can go again and again. They help you become stronger, truer, better people.”

She juxtaposed these “little wild places” as being as critical to our national psyche just like the bigger wild places such as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone that we’ve made efforted so hard to protect.

Perhaps this is because, as poet Eric Scott Sutherland remarked: “We find the muse in nature.”

A collection of Guy Mendes photographs opened earlier in the evening at the Ann Tower Gallery at the Downtown Arts Center.  Mendes’ photography captures the essence and emotion of “Marble Creek Endangered Watershed” which is one of these “little wild places” which would be forever destroyed by the construction of the Vampire Road. The Mendes collection will remain on display until November 3.

The Vampire Road exists because this proposed road has been proposed on multiple occasions, but “the plan just couldn’t be killed” according to the lyrics of the Steve Broderson and Twist of Fate song, The Vampire Road. The music video was first shown at last night’s event. And you can watch it here on the Kaintuckeean!



Legendary Kentucky author Wendell Berry delivered a delightful resolution from the fictitious Buzzard General Assembly which gave a humorous yet serious sense of what is at stake. Berry stated that the Assembly “unanimously concluded and instructed me to tell you that they foreswear all rights and claims to the carrion, with the giblets and gravy thereof, that would be produced by said connector.” The buzzards seem to prefer the more diverse palate offered in nature rather than on pavement.

Richard Taylor, a former Kentucky poet laureate remarked on Kentucky’s pioneer spirit which helped us forge into the wilderness in centuries past only to suggest that “it is time to give up our pioneer mindset to conquer and to consume.”

Professor Maurice Manning took a different, more spiritual tone: “I believe God made the world we live in. And destroying it is a sin.”

Skuller’s Clock to Be Reset Tomorrow #TBT

Skuller's Clock - Lexington, Ky. Skuller's Clock - Lexington, Ky.

No guessing necessary today, as the #ThrowbackThursday shows three photo of the same location and there’s no hiding the location of the old Skuller’s clock. In the comments, please share your memories of Skuller’s and its memorable clock. 

Near the northwest corner of Main and Limestone stood the old Skuller’s clock which was originally manufactured by the Brown Street Clock Company in Pennsylvania in 1913.

It arrived at the location in the 100 block of West Main Street first in 1931 when Skuller’s relocated to what is now the downstairs ballroom of Bellini’s restaurant. Evidence of Skuller’s remains with the inlaid tile at the old entrance; the store closed in 1984.

But the clock hung on.

Skuller’s Clock (2013)
Photo by the Author

At fourteen feet in height, the two-faced clock is fixed upon a fluted iron column. It is, in its own right, a Lexington landmark.

The clock originally featured (and does again) a lit neon sign bearing the Skuller’s name. The jeweler also sold eyeglasses for a time which explains the eyewear (and painted eyes) appearing below the face of the clock.

Yet by 2010, the clock was inoperable and was removed as part of a streetscape beautification project in anticipation of that year’s World Equestrian Games. The promise was made that the Skuller’s clock would be restored. Estimates for rehabilitation of the clock were about $25,000. Private funds were secured and tomorrow, at 7:15 p.m., the clock will once again tell time for those downtown.

Eleven Pocket Museums Tell Pieces of Lexington’s History

After the judiciary left the historic Main Street courthouse in favor of more spacious facilities on South Limestone, the 1898 courthouse was transformed into the Lexington History Museum. Nearly a decade later, the courthouse was shuttered by the city due to various public safety concerns. Efforts remain underway to restore the historic facility with The Courthouse Square Foundation leading the charge.

But for the Lexington History Museum, a change was needed to ensure that they could continue sharing the history of Lexington with the community. A return to the historic courthouse would be ideal, but that vision is years away from realization and a generation of our history would be lost on young Lexingtonians in the meanwhile.

Tribute to Dr. Clark in the Congressional
Record, signed by Sen. McConnell

So the idea to create pocket museums – small displays with rotating content in various locations was born. In time for the Fourth of July holiday last month, the LHM began phase one of the pocket museum program with locations at Victorian Square, the library, the government center, banks, and more. The current eleven topics include Belle Brezing, Dr. Thomas Clark, hotels of Lexington, and Prohibition.

I ventured into the Lexington Public Library recently where I found Pocket Museums on Prohibition in Lexington and Dr. Thomas D. Clark. On the former, a number of local bourbon bottles were available leaving the evidence of the variety of distillers once in the area. Explanation of the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment laid the groundwork for a “pocket” understanding of the era and its impact on Lexington.

The “pocket museum” on Dr. Thomas Clark told the story of the now-deceased historian who told Kentucky’s history better than any other. Originally from Mississippi, Dr. Clark was also influential in the foundation of the Lexington History Museum. 

All of the current Pocket Museums are downtown and it is definitely worth exploring.

More information about the Pocket Museums can be found on the website of the Lexington History Museum, lexhistory.org.

Inactive Fourth Street Church has Multiple Denominations in its History

St. Andrews Episcopal Mission Church – Lexington, Ky.

A carriage factory on West Fourth Street served as a house of worship for Lexington’s black population from the time Br. Thomas Phillips and his former master, John Brand, opened the Antioch Christian Church in April 1851. Brother Phillips departed this world in 1859, but his congregation continued to grow. In 1874, the old carriage factory was torn down and the congregation built a structure of its own.

One of the most impressive church buildings built for Lexington’s black community immediately following the Civil War, the structure was a simple brick three-bay church with a simple rose window above the inscription, “… the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26, KJV)

In only a few short years, though, the Antioch (Colored) Christian Church found it necessary to find larger quarters and they relocated to a newly constructed church on Second Street. Thereafter, that church would move again (to Constitution Avenue) but would remain known as the (East) Second Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

The old Fourth Street house of worship would not remain empty for long. Thomas Underwood Dudley, the second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, sought to expand the reach of his Episcopal Church. Overcoming many racist, segregationist views as well as the ghost of his own past as a Confederate veteran, Bishop Dudley pursued an integrated church: “God hath made of one blood all nations of men.”

The Episcopal diocese constructed a new church in the 1950s, but the mission founded by Dudley remained active until that point. Today, the old church structure is inactive and is used by its present owners for storage.

Sources: East Second Street History; NRHP

The House at Second and Mill Called “Home” by Several Notable Kentuckians

Hart-Bradford House at Second & Mill Streets – Lexington, Ky.
Photo: Library of Congress

I was slightly incorrect on last week’s  #ThrowbackThursday photo as I observed only two famous occupants. At least four are worthy of mention: Thomas Hart, John Bradford, John Hunt Morgan, and Laura Clay.

The property was accurately guessed quickly by Jason Sloan, the Historic Preservationist with the Blue Grass Trust. Jason had an unfair advantage, though, as the BGT was founded in the wake of the demolition of the photographed property.

The property was known as the Thomas Hart / John Bradford House, though I fully overlooked the first occupant.

Col. Thomas Hart was a veteran of the American Revolution and a Marylander. In the early months of 1794, Col. Hart sent letter to friends in Lexington to procure for him a house in Lexington. In an earlier letter to Gov. Blount of Tennessee, Hart wrote

You will be surprised to hear I am going to Kentucky. Mrs. Hart, who for eighteen years has opposed this measure, has now given her consent and so we go, an old fellow of 63 years of age seeking a new country to make a fortune in…

Hart had been both at Boonesborough and had been a principal in the Transylvania Company which, had it been successful, would have forever altered Kentucky’s lot. At the age of 63, Hart arrived in Lexington in June of 1794.

In the late 1790s, ca. 1798, Hart constructed for he and his family a home on the corner of Second and Mill Street. He owned the entire block – now bordered by Broadway, Short, Mill, and Church Streets – which he utilized for his many business ventures.

Hart may be best known for his son-in-law as his daughter, Lucretia, married Henry Clay. In fact, the nuptials occurred in this very house! As a gift to his son-in-law, Hart erected next to his own house a home for Lucretia and Henry. At the time, Clay practiced law across Mill Street.

Hart died in 1808 and after the house was sold to John Bradford.

John Bradford
Photo: U. of Kentucky

John Bradford purchased the Hart home from Thomas Hart, Jr. for $5,000. Bradford had begun the Kentucke Gazette in 1787; it was the first newspaper in the Commonwealth. Herald-Leader columnist Tom Eblen described Bradford as “a Renaissance man of the early Western frontier” before creating a laundry list of endeavors in which Bradford found himself actively occupied: “land surveyor, Indian fighter, politician, moral philosopher, tavern owner, sheriff, civic host, community booster, postal service entrepreneur, real estate speculator, subdivision developer, mechanic and mathematician.”

The Gazette changed names in 1789 when it adopted what we now view as the conventional spelling of Kentucky. The change was precipitated by an official act of the Virginia legislature.

One cannot underestimate Bradford’s contributions to the region. He was the man “behind the scenes” accomplishing much and bringing Lexington with him. It is a question whether Lexington would have become the Athens of the West were it not for John Bradford.

On March 22, 1830, Bradford died at his home on the corner of Second and Mill Streets. His burial location is unknown, but there is some evidence from the early 20th century that the location was under the western wall of First Baptist Church (the site of Lexington’s first burying grounds).  In 1926, the John Bradford Society dedicated and mounted a plaque on the Second Street side of the Hart-Bradford Home, which read:

This House Was the Home of
John Bradford
1749-1830
A Pioneer Settler of Lexington
First Printer of Kentucky
Co-Founder of The Kentucky Gazette
A Prominent, Public-Spirited and Useful Citizen.

The plaque is visible at the center of the photo above.

The Bruce family which followed the Bradford’s at 193 North Mill; here Rebecca Gratz Bruce was born three months after Bradford’s death. In 1848, Rebecca would go on to be married in this house to John Hunt Morgan and the couple lived here briefly for a time before the Civil War. Remarkably, their marriage and occupancy is only a footnote in the history of the property.

Laura Clay
Library of Congress

Laura Clay, daughter of noted abolitionist Cassius Clay, removed here from White Hall in Madison County where she had been born. She founded the Kentucky Equal Rights Association and sought suffrage and equality for women.

It is interesting to note, however, she opposed the passage of the 19th Amendment on the grounds of states’ rights.

In 1920, Clay was a delegate from Kentucky at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. The photo below is from the convention at which Clay become the first woman in either major political party to have her name placed in nomination for President of the United States.

1920 Democratic National Convention.
Ms. Clay, far left, and the other Kentucky delegates.
Photo from John Rhorer, whose grandfather wears the hat (r)

Ms. Clay died in her home at the corner of Second and Mill Streets in 1941. She was 92.

In 1955, the Hart-Bradford-Clay home was razed in favor of a parking lot. The demolition did, however, prompt a group of preservation minded individuals to go about ensuring that the same fate did not befall the Hunt-Morgan House. The group, “The Foundation for the Preservation of Historic Lexington and Fayette County” expanded its mission and simplified name to today be known as the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. In 1958, Gratz Park was made Lexington’s first historic district; today there are fifteen.

193 North Mill Street remains only a parking lot; nothing has risen from her ashes. It can be said, however, that her demolition galvanized members of the community to the great task of preserving Lexington’s historic and cultural resources.

Sources:
Blue Grass Trust. Gratz Park Spreads. Brochure, available here.
Coleman, Jr., J. Winston. John Bradford and the Kentucky Gazette. Filson Quarterly, v. 34 1960, available here.
Dunn, Frank C. Old Houses of Lexington. Typescript, n.d. transcribed and available here.
Eblen, Tom. Essay: John Bradford, Kentucky’s Pioneer Journalist. 11 June 2013, available here.
Hudspeth, Susan. John Bradford: Pioneer Printer of Kentucky. 
Kentucky Women in the Civil Rights Era. Laura Clay: Kentucky Suffragette, available here.
Pierces.org. Colonel Thomas Hart III, available here.

Sayre School: An Institution of the “Widest Range and Highest Order”

Sayre School – Lexington, Ky.
(R: David A. Sayre, headmaster’s office, Spartans colored stairs)

David A. Sayre was a wealth silversmith from New Jersey who arrived in Lexington in 1811. By the end of the following decade, he had completely abandoned the trade in favor of commercial banking which had become a staple of the economy. With success, he quickly became one of Lexington’s most affluent denizens.

With his success, he contributed greatly to a number of philanthropic efforts. On November 1, 1854, Sayre founded the Transylvania Female Academy. Within a year, the school was renamed for its founder and benefactor as the Sayre Female Institute. The school began to admit boys in 1876 and finally dropping the gender-specific name in 1942.

During almost this entire history, Sayre School has operated at the same location: 194 North Limestone, now affectionately referred to as “Old Sayre.” (That brief interim as the Transylvania Female Academy found the school seated at the northwest corner of Church and Mill Streets.)

Old Sayre was constructed in 1846 as a two story, three-bay Greek Revival designed by local architect Thomas Lewinski as the home of Edward P. Johnson. Johnson lived here until 1855 when he sold the property to Sayre. By the end of the decade, two additional floors had been added to Old Sayre with the alterations being designed by architect John McMurtry.

View of downtown Lexington from atop the
cupola of Old Sayre.

With the alterations, Old Sayre has assumed features of the Italianate style. On all four floors, the windows in the three bays are triple-section with the garret’s central window featuring a palladium window. Leading up to Old Sayre’s central architectural feature are a narrow set of stairs painted yellow and blue – the school colors. That signature feature is the square cupola topping Old Sayre, also having three windows on each side.

Given Sayre’s location just north of the downtown commercial district, the cupola offers sweeping views of downtown.

The property is seated on what was once Outlot No. 11 in the earliest of Lexington’s plans laid out in 1791. On this five acre tract and in the footprint of Old Sayre, Colonel George Nicholas constructed his home. Nicholas was, among other accolades and accomplishments, a prominent lawyer, Revolutionary War veteran, father of Kentucky’s Constitution, and the first attorney general of Kentucky. (Read more about Col. Nicholas here.)

Nicholas died in 1799 and is buried in the Old Episcopal Burying Grounds, the property was sold in 1806 to Thomas Hart, Jr. “who had a rope walk on the rear of the property.” (It is questionable whether the rope walk would today be considered an amusement ride and not permitted under present zoning law.) Hart’s family sold the land to Johnson who demolished the Nicholas home in favor of the two-story, supra.

David Sayre sought the formation of the school to provide an education of the “widest range and highest order.” Having survived through both the Civil War and the Great Depression, Sayre continues to provide such an education to her pupils.

Additional photos of the Sayre School deTour are available on flickr.

Sources: Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass; NRHP; Sayre School


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Learn more details about this exciting group on Facebook! You can also see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

Fifty Steps to the Entrance of First Baptist Church

The First Baptist Church – Lexington, Ky.

Across Main Street from Rupp Arena, fifty stone steps climb over five landings to reach the sanctuary entrance of the circa 1913 First Baptist Church. The impressive structure is a Lexington landmark in part because of its prominent Main Street location and in part because of its architectural grandeur. The massive clock tower and red tile roof mark this iconic location.

Three former Baptist churches occupied the site, as did Lexington’s earliest burying ground. In fact, it was here that King Solomon buried the dead from the 1833 cholera epidemic. A decade and a half later, most of the bodies were relocated to the newly organized Lexington Cemetery.

Two of the old Baptist churches burned on the site, while the third was simply outgrown.  When the extant structure was erected at a cost of approximately $125,000, it was built of Bedford limestone (Indiana) in the Collegiate Gothic style. Though the style is not often displayed in Lexington, it is commonly seen at the Ivy Leagues schools and at universities across the country.

First Baptist Church;
ca. 1975 (Source: NRHP)

It is an impressive architectural style, made ecclesiastical at First Baptist through the repeated use of the quatrefoil, cross and other religious symbols in the exterior’s decorative stonework.

Entrance to the sanctuary is through a deeply recessed bay which had been closed in recent years because of structural concerns. Work on maintaining First Baptist has been a struggle as what was once one of the South’s largest Baptist congregations has drastically dwindled in number. With limited attendance comes limited tithe and offering, and the church building suffers.

All is not lost, however, as a handful of congregations now pool resources to call the First Baptist Church home. Each attempts to do its part in maintaining this magnificent piece of history.

Originally meeting in the homes of members as the Town Fork (or Town Branch) Baptist Church, it associated with the Elkhorn Association on August 15, 1786. Lewis Craig (brother to Elijah Craig) was involved in the establishment of Town Branch giving to First Baptist a hand on the legacy of the Traveling Church.

Rev. John Gano was called in 1789 to the newly erected meetinghouse on the site. He had been a chaplain in the Continental Army having served throughout the long winter at Valley Forge.

A division arose in the church in 1826 when the influence of Alexander Campbell and the Restoration Movement brought Dr. James Fishback to introduce a resolution to change the church from Baptist to “Church of Christ.” The resolution was lost, so Fishback and his supporters departed First Baptist to organize the “Church of Christ on Mill Street” of which Central Christian Church is the eventual, albeit indirect descendent.

Inside, the first time visitor is overcome by the enormity of the cruciform shaped sanctuary. Anchored at front by pulpit and a choir balcony that also features an impressive pipe organ, the 1500-seat sanctuary features three additional balconies so that there is one on each wall. The pews and brass cluster chandeliers, all original.

It is, however, the “wide-grained chestnut timberwork over-arching the auditorium” that takes one’s breath away. Corbels at the base of each three-foot thick rib feature “intricately carved angels” while “horizontal bands of acanthus, leaves and acorns” adorn panelling above the pulpit.

And in case one is not sufficiently taken aback, five large stain-glass windows adorn. The space is one most Holy, Holy, Holy.

I visited First Baptist during a concert by the Lexington Area Music Alliance, LAMA. The concert was profiled yesterday and is available by clicking here.


Additional photographs of First Baptist Church and the LAMA concert are available on flickr.

Sources: Baptist History Homepage; Mickey Anders; NRHP (Historic Western Suburb); Historic Western Suburb NA; Tom Eblen

Beautiful Sounds in a Spectacular Venue: “Music in the Church” at Lexington’s First Baptist Church

Patrick McNeese Band (upper right);
Chris Weiss (lower left)

Last year, Lexington experienced her hottest Independence Day on record. This year’s holiday was hardly 99 degrees – instead the constant rain kept it a wee bit chilly.

Crowds were down and many vendors failed to appear. It may have been the quietest Fourth of July in Lexington’s recent memory.
But it was not silent inside the historic First Baptist Church.
Inside, a concert organized by the Lexington Area Music Alliance (LAMA) featured the sounds of the Patrick McNeese Band as well as those of Chris Weiss. Apparently, LAMA was using the event to test out the acoustics of the ca. 1913 sanctuary as part of a new series, “Music in the Church.”

LAMA is an origination committed to the support and economic vibrancy of local musicians. The artists performing were as spectacular as the venue.

The Patrick McNeese Band had a great sound. Easy listening with a jazzy edge and a bite of Bluegrass.  McNeese writes the band’s music while playing the guitar and providing vocal. Other band members include Maggie Lander (vocal/violin), Tom Martin (ivories), Scott Stoess (bass), and Tripp Bratton (percussion).

Cave Run Lake – Rowan Co., Ky.

Solo guitarist Chris Weiss’ music has many of those same coffee shop, easy listening sounds affected by the regional influences of Appalachia. Basically, my kind of music. One song in particular I really enjoyed. Chris said he wrote it while on a boat on Cave Run Lake. While he played, I pulled up this post on Cave Run Lake and imagined myself their again as I looked at the beautiful Rowan County scenery. It took me back.

The whole concert was awesome. In fact, I came to take advantage of the opportunity to visit First Baptist Church. Yet, I remained for the two hour concert.

Great music and I hope the ‘Music in the Church’ series is a big hit.

The venue for the concert, First Baptist Church in Lexington, is profiled here.