Steve Snedeker’s Landscaping and Gardening Blog

I am running extremely whimsical with this. In a way, I am just showing pictures from my Mighty Massive photo file system which have not appeared here before. New blood, as it were.

It also gives a chance to plain have some fun without too much hyped-up thematic discipline, so it’s even cooler. The pic below is my brother Mike posing with our very own Mother, often referred to as “Mom”.  They both seem reasonably happy, so why not etch that rare moment on historical online Eternity? I lied, of course. We spend most of our time laughing, the truth is.

Anyways, sashay with me through various and sundry pictures, none of which match.

(left click all images to enlarge – sometimes twice for real detail)

Here’s a hole in the wall at the Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon.

Modernistic planting, somewhere.

A highly-suspicious plant.

Some interesting Iron Work a very good iron man did at a project of ours.

The Portland Japanese Garden is inspiring, quiet and beautiful. Even the fish agree:

Yew Dell Gardens in Fall. Dude could use a haircut and a shave.

Now, this is a river.

Multnomah Fall just outside of Portland.

I always loved traveling this stretch of road between Reno and Portland, Oregon. It was about 540 miles – which is a grind no matter how scenic – but this approach to Mt. Hood not only meant I was getting into more treed areas, it also meant I was within about 60 miles of home. Even in Summer – with the snow nealy gone – Mt. Hood was like a relaxing sight.

Dealing with the desert – you can find some strangeness, for sure. Here is a mulch only a lizard could love. The good news is it grew up nicely.

Prune This!!!!!!!!!!

This is a lot of moving water. 6,000 gallons a minute, to be exact.

Making Bubble Rocks can put you in some tight spaces.

And some are tighter than others:

I always have liked what we did in making this little creek.

I absolutely love this picture. I shamelessly add it here, not knowing where I got it. I hope the author does not mind.

“Sobering” applies to this military cemetery in Louisville, I’d think. It is amazing quiet here. Speaking as a veteran, I often wish more of us would visit these places. You’d be amazed at how many connections you have here and elsewhere.

You know you’re up early when this sight greets you on the drive to work. Of course, then again, it could be lunch time in the Yukon in December.

Would this be called a “Green Building”?

Here’s something you DON’T want to see when you get low on gas.

Those nutty Barcelonans will do anything for a laugh.

An interesting landscaping idea?

Here’s Louis XIV and an escaped horse in downtown Louisville.

This is what it’s like driving from Reno, over the mountain to lake Tahoe in Winter.

A patio and landscaping project in Portland.

You don’t see rocks like this every day. Nor woodwork, for that matter.

An interesting Architectural feature from the Portland, Oregon Chinese Garden.

The Truckee River as it courses through the midst of downtown Reno, Nevada. This shot is at the head of the fabricated kayak run, designed for competitions. Yes, it is in the middle of town.

A luxury swimmin’ hole we helped construct in the woods near Lake Tahoe. We did everything on top – just not the pool itself. The paving, rocks and all that are ours,

Fossils!!  Old Ones! These, in fact, are pretty close to the Oldest Ever. Dating from the Devonian Era, back about – ohhhhh – 386 million years ago, the Devonian Era evokes images of  warm, tropical seas and a bustling marine realm. On land, plants and a few organisms including arthropods, arachnids and paleoinsects, were proliferating into new niche space. Amphibians first evolved in the late Devonian Period, actually just a few million years after the appearance of the first forests.

The pictures below are best viewed at double magnification (click twice) to find the details of the dam itself. The Louisville skyline rests behind the iron bridge’s framework.

My Mother and I decided to troop out one dreary afternoon, across the Ohio River into Indiana for a visit to the “Falls of The Ohio Interpretive Center” – a fascinating and informative educational and interpretive edifice which is ironically built on top of a literal profusion of some of the oldest known fossil beds on the entire planet. The “Falls” were a series of rapids which adversely affected river traffic back during the day when river traffic flowing towards the Mississippi River and thence to the Gulf Of Mexico and a wider world was highly desirable. Louisville became a city at this point and erected a dam and a set of locks for traffic to solve the ultimately impassable rapids.

I like the picture below as it shows the outline of this great modern building as well as revealing the mess a river can make that is 1,000 miles long and drains a quarter of a continent the size of North America. A mile wide in places and running at a surprisingly rapid rate, the Ohio fits every single criterion as one of the world’s great rivers. The driftwood and blanched branches and smaller debris is the accumulation of maybe one or two years. The buildup of debris which floats downriver from West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and the rest of the eastern Midsection of the United States piles up like nobody’s business as cliffs erode and deposit whole trees as well as simply simply titanic amounts of dirt and water into the mighty Ohio River.

Here is a detritus-only view of the pretty much yearly deposits of debris from this mutably filled, oft-receding, oft-filling expanse of running water:

The view below is of some of the fossil beds themselves, with a glance outwards onto the plains and the crevasses which hold these little ancient wonders. The river over some millions of years on its own has carved and shaped the rock into the plains seen here.

And here is a look backwards from the rocky plains carved and eroded by the incessant onrush of such huge amounts of water. The statue is really cool – it is a depiction of the famous North American explorer George Rogers Clark and his fellow explorer, Merriweather Lewis.

Here is a closer look at these two, from the website:

As a youngster who prowled the forests and river banks of Kentucky, in Louisville and, downriver, in Owensboro, I developed a close relationship with the Ohio River. As a high schooler, we often got away from people and adults and ventured into secret lands, hard by the river, for swimming and playing, floating out on massive logs and tree hulks and experiencing the speed of the river’s currents. We fished it and we swam it. I once lost a pair of contact lens in the Ohio – and found them! LOL, adventure was thy name for rambunctious dumb teenagers like ourselves. But that’s the river of which I promise to speak another time – this is about fossils.

As an even younger child, we ventured out around Louisville and found fossils everywhere. It was a fecund natural area for kids who stayed outdoors in those days and who filled the hours with ventures into as many natural forests, creeks and rivers as a day would allow.  Kids would also discover Indian arrowheads and develop lush fantasies about that warrior class of human beings as well as about our local heroes such as Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett. All those kid’s game were wonderful, sort of Mark Twain-like in so very many ways. But I also recall thoughtful, impressive and shared moments as we kids found fossils and wondered about their provenance.

We all had developed a very real sense of prehistory – at least my own family’s people and those of our friends at the time. The wonder at the absolute ancientness of anything which could reflect what it was when it was alive and then become a rock pretty much capped the impossible largeness and mystery of our world and Universe. We actually got good at identifying species – “Look! A fern!”  “Wow! A mollusk and an early one!” rang through the forests and creek beds of limestone where we found these little objects. “That’s not a fossil!” “Is too!” also took place as real fossils chipped off the sides of the ancient cliffs and eroded limestone of our earth in Louisville. Arguments over a fossil or arrowhead’s worthiness as a collectible became intense as we analyzed to the limited best of our scientific little minds.

I am truly glad for those times. Living out West, my daughter got to see its own set of geological wonders. Growing up in Reno, Nevada, Alena could experience the real glories of “steam heat” – Geothermal Benefits – of an area who now relies upon just that. There is also a mountianside of pure Quartz just outside of Reno, abiove the little town of Mogul. Whole cliff faces appear suddenly which are nearly clear or a unbelievably resplendant with its startling white jewelled facade rising up sheer stories into the higher reaches, some of whose chips and rocks can be seen below on the ground as absolutely stunningly gorgeous huge quartz boulders and rocks.

I think I come by my love of rocks honestly, I guess is what I am saying. I have always somewhat specialized in boulder placements in all my landscaping projects. To me, rocks and boulders share an equal billing on Earth. Inanimate they may be but their stories are hidden inside, only waiting for the human imagination to cultivate their fullness and richness. What was the earth like 25,000,000 years ago? Ask a rock. Most of them were well past the age for legal drinking by then.

I love me some fossils:

Just for kicks!

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Sea Biscuit leads the pack at the first turn -

The pace is hot!

Cabbage is up at the head of the bunch

With Bubble Gum, stickin’ to the rail!

It’s a competitive race, ladies and gents!

Banana peels around on the outside!

With Van Gogh charging hard!

And Starburst giving chase!

Cherokee Park even showed up, running hard

With her picnic area tattooed as always

This is a detail horse!

Looking good and stylin’ her Daniel Boone statue!

Royalty was also well-represented as Louisville’s namesake points the way

Although, to be perfectly honest, some horses didn’t much care -

There were some definitely lazy nags at the track that day -

While some were almost too darn excited!

All in all, no one remembered who won. The race was fun all by itself!

Louisville’s “Gallopalooza” is a fund-raising and civic pride phenomenon initiated a few years ago by consigning the best artists in town to do their thing on some gorgeous horses. It’s almost unfair using something as cool and beautiful as a horse to draw and paint on – already beautiful in form, horses are a Louisville love affair. These babies were already placed all over town a few years ago. They are a wonderful institution and uncommonly pretty to look at. They are fun.

Here is some interesting info on the event with many more horses featured in photo’s from Flickr…..here.

I have written about St. James Court and the Belgravia areas of Louisville in the past – here - and here – dealing with the history of the area and its onset as an exceptional Louisville neighborhood. Unbelievably exceptional, in fact. Also, the pictures then were all taken in the Summer when everything was blooming and gorgeous. This is about another season of this enchanting neighborhood and the Autumn here has become equally interesting to me. It’s late Fall now and 70% of the leaves have fallen. It serves as a stark but gorgeous reminder that Winter is on its inexorable way. The thing is, it sets a definite mood, somehow. It is all around, and it’s just encompassing.

There is something about the competing gaiety and the fascinating architectural diversity  in the local architecture – the rather thrilling excitement of a town, bursting at the seams, yet still concerned with beauty at the time of its establishment- admixed with Time, History and humanity itself to give such a mood. Somehow somber, we walked together enjoying the sights and smells in a quieter way than before – in many ways even more able to appreciate the architecture, yet still carrying the scent of things finishing for the year. You know – those days when Winter announces itself in no small way.

(left click images to enlarge, once or even twice)

This picture above is Belgravia, an adjoining pedestrian thruway, attached to St. James Court and every  bit as interesting in every way if not more. Somehow, the rather forlorn appearance really nailed me while walking through. But then, of course, I had seen it at its height of Summer glory, too. I guess that’s it – the Exceptional somehow crashes into the Inevitable, as always, and Winter will soon drop its snow and ice and make what was an absolute riot of color and form into something indistinguishable from any old neighborhood.

Back on St. James Court, it is even more stark

The spiny, empty trees, devoid of their lushness with the passing of their leaves, present such a stark outline. The few remaining ones possessing any leaves at all are the yellow remains of the local Ginkgo Bilbao’s and the reds and greens  a couple of straggling Maples and oaks.

What always salvages any trip through this neighborhood, however, is the unparalleled craftsmanship devoted to the finishes of these gorgeous homes.  I totally misspoke in my despair about Winter coming. This neighborhood will always be unique and inspiring, in spite of nearly any amount of snow.

The gorgeous finishing details of all the Turn-Of-The-Century artisans and craftsmen make this area well worth touring on any day:

Wonderful Iron Work abounds:

The details, the excellent painting choices of the current residents and owners, all lead to a very deep appreciation of the history and promise of the entire area, so well-maintained and so well-loved.

The details are the thing. Even the brick and stonework.

Take a stroll now……….and let’s just browse a bit.

Louisville loves its history and it shows.

Now – if we could just get Santa Cruz weather! 

(click any image to enlarge)

The weather in Louisville is telling me my choice of relocation was superb! Yesterday was the – what? – 14th of November and most of the days I have been here, since September 30, were in the 60’s and 70’s. Hey, I’ll take it! I got a call from my old buddy Paul who mentions it was 43 and 31, with rain, yesterday in Portland, Oregon . Nyahhhhhhh!!

But I know what I signed up for – I am not that naive. The time will come when the oncoming Spring will look like this:

Or at least, that’s what I fear most. Nevertheless, the weather has been remarkably benign and I am utterly grateful for it. It has allowed my Ma and I to get walking locally and for my camera to click away at the abundant Fall color streaking through Louisville like a fairy painter.

The uncommonly red Red’s are mind boggling in their richness and in the Madras-like near-bleeding symphony of colors packed right within one tree itself. Other trees show an equal propensity towards riot – just stunning variations within the same little unit, all displayed like finery at a Fall Cotillion.

My niece, Hannah and her happy man, Jimmy sport gorgeous smiles in front of their new digs with the perfectly-colored tree right in their own front yard!

Another view of this Natural Wonder as The Mumster and I drop in completely uninvited. We are both positive dropping in unannounced is a privilege of age, lol:

The stages have nearly completed themselves and now the leaves are falling. I am readying my Muckloks. Few people understand the depth of my disgust that Winter is even a season. There should really be a law.

But what a sensational set of stages it has been – the Yellows took my breath this year:

These are like a second Sun, nearly blinding on sunny days. Of course, this was a stage leading to a real mess underneath – the bane of homeowners all over but the source of some serious fun for kids, 2 of which I caught doing what we always did as children – making ourselves disappear!

Burying your friend can be hard work. You pretty much have to stay at it because they move around under the leaves and then you can still see parts of them – which defeats the purpose, for Pete Sakes. Let’s move on and get ‘r dun.

Applying yet another layer of leaves brings us closer to our goal. It’s not easy but the one good thing is we have plenty of material. Like everything else, burying your buddy takes a bit of time, but these stages are closing in on completion. Here comes the Coup de Grace!:

Where were we?

Oh……….has anyone seen my horse?

Oh, yeah, there it is:

The City of Louisville celebrates his love affair and their location as the center of Thoroughbred horse racing history by having local artists paint these styling nags all over town. The result is a shockingly beautiful rendition of horse art at the most surprising locations – literally hundreds of these – all different – all over the city.

These were at the entrance to the Papa John’s headquarters  – near where I am living. They also constructed a killer park, sparing no expense in beautifying the local area and pleasing those who walk there:

The very fashionable – these days – Dawn Redwood…. Metasequoia – turns its conifer needles into a deciduous showcase along the walks leading up to my horse and the offices. I must make sure I drop in here this Spring to watch them redevelop. It gives me something to look forward to.

In fact, the Metasequoia has an absolutely fascinating history all of its own. Quite prehistoric, believe it or not it was nearly an unknown species all the way up until 1944! Lordy, I have seen hundreds of them and even planted a few myself. I was shocked to find out these facts. Here is a bit from Wikipedia:

“Metasequoia was first described as a fossil from the Mesozoic Era by Shigeru Miki in 1941, but in 1944 a small stand of an unidentified tree was discovered in China in Modaoxi by Zhan Wang; due to World War II, these were not studied further until 1946 and only finally described as a new living species of Metasequoia in 1948 by Wan Chun Cheng and Hu Hsen Hsu. In 1948 the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University sent an expedition to collect seeds and, soon after, seedling trees were distributed to various universities and arboreta worldwide for growth trials.”

And here is one from a local park, in its currently-all-the-Metasequoia-rage, “Brown Phase”:

But now back to the park at Yum! Foods:

Gorgeous waterfalls abound in the large lake nearby, enjoyed by the entire city as a free range sort of park. As a waterfall-maker myself, I see this and my heart lifts. They have done a masterful job of naturalizing the unnatural – complete with some diesel engine down below pumping what has to be a few thousand gallons per minute over these neat rock formations:

A huge tip of the hat to those responsible for this Falls. This is near-perfection.

I think I’ll close now and continue this. I got steered away – as usual – from the original theme. Hey – there’s just so much exciting stuff out there. Sue me!

(click all images to enlarge)

Peaceful, exotic, unusual, Yew Dell gardens is not your everyday visit. While they have the most gorgeous groupings of evergreens in their classic routine – with smaller, lower-growing species below and the taller groupings behind in a wash of evergreen textures, and all developed carefully over time – there is much more here. Even the more deciduous areas were constructed with the longer view, which means depth, color and structural form of an incredibly appealing nature.

First the evergreens:

Then those more deciduous groupings:

This is a garden that would have to have been a nursery-owner’s delight. Experiments galore still stud the grounds in a riot of stable,aged and  standard plantings, mixed with some real bizarre eye candy. Lovingly constructed by the instigator of all this and his loving wife, Theodore and Martha Klein had them some real fun. Here is a short blurb taken from their website ( http://www.yewdellgardens.org/):

“Beginning with 33-acres of Oldham County farmland in 1941, Theodore and Martha Lee Klein spent the next 60-plus years developing an exquisite private estate, a successful commercial nursery and an extensive collection of unusual plants and outstanding gardens. Known locally, nationally and internationally as a first-rate plantsman, Theodore Klein was also a self-taught artisan who personally crafted the buildings and gardens that became known as Yew Dell.

Through the years, Klein collected over one thousand unusual specimen trees and shrubs which were displayed and evaluated in his arboretum. He also worked to develop new plant varieties for the regional landscape, amassing an impressive list of more than 60 unique introductions over his professional career.”

A perfect example of the level of “whimsy” Mr. Klein brought to bear on his property rests here, in the form of his small “Castle”:

Mr. Klein’s love of and appreciation for stone work is redolent throughout the entire place. His walls and even other entire buildings show a severe appreciation for the beauty and form of stone houses, walls and steps into gardens:

I love this wall. It reeks, somehow, of Kentucky, reminding one of the rows and rows of “slave walls” dry set and loose along the roads around horse farms in Central Kentucky:

In the end, however, it remains the plantings which left the largest impression on this visitor. Here is a series of different-colored Xanthosoma – ranging from a lime green, through a cultivar featuring deep purple stems to another entirely purple variety which absolutely stunned me with its deep purple tone and downright uniqueness. (Check out the reverse side of those gorgeous huge leaves and how they become a dustier “negative” of their reverse):

The velvety texture of the darker portion is hard to capture on camera, but it feels just as lush as it looks.

The fact is, the garden’s fascination with “Purpurea’s” of all types does not stop at those uncanny Xanthosomas. Here is a tiny set of purple Shamrocks -

Odder yet – and tons more purple – is this most surprising Mimosa Tree:

The Yew Dell Garden is a true delight. It’s a bit smaller than I had thought it would be but they manage to cram all sorts of fascinating, weird, wild and wonderful stuff into it in a riot of species, colors and form. We caught it at the onset of Autumn, so we missed a lot of some equally-unusual annuals and the perennials which had just pretty much finished doing their thing.

Frances at FaireGarden will appreciate their love of that gorgeous Muhley Grass, however, stuck as it is here at the entrance to the place -

Fearless, experimental and plain fascinating, sculptures are sporadically placed around the Gardens in auspicious spots as well.

I was particularly taken with The Hand – the sculpture which opened up this post at the top. It’s stark posturing in the middle of a wide expanse of grass just speaks volumes to the unique perspective this gorgeous and interesting garden exudes in so many ways:

Here’s a walkway through some pruned Holly Trees, hard by those purple Xanthosomas and another sculpture. Like I said – the interesting stuff just doesn’t quit.

I confess to my own bias – I am also fascinated with purple as a garden color for some strange reason – and maybe that’s it – the strangeness. But Yew Dell certainly has it in abundance, combined with other slices of absolute uniqueness.

Color everywhere – even in Fall – this garden is well worth anyone’s visit. Eccentric gardens are not that unusual in North America. I know a family in British Columbia who once made themselves a small retreat out of Rhododendrons and Azaleas which got bigger than themselves. Some of these places are now parks people gladly pay to visit in season. Yew Dell, motivated by a nurser and handy man with resources has become every bit of that.

Thanks for coming along!

(click images to enlarge)

My Mother and I took what is a ritual trip to Bernheim Forest – something we do almost every time I am in Louisville. My father’s ashes were spread here, for one thing, because it was his favorite place in the Universe – or a close second anyway, next to sitting by his wife or one of his kids.

Bernheim Forest in reality is a mixture of cultivated grounds, featuring a natural forest, dense and colorful and a massive park of grand green expanses of luscious Bluegrass mixed in with exotic and extremely colorful plants, famous by their seasons. Spring in the park means the planted Redbuds,  Dogwoods, Viburnums, Magnolias and the wild rest of the stuff pop out in a massive display of color and great scent, made even more redolent by the muggy, aroma-filled air of the local climate.

Autumn features all of the wonderful color such a decidedly deciduous forest can give – as the weather turns like now, we see the beginnings of the riotous leaf changes which will dominate when Fall really opens up. Some of that is occurring now -

Maples, Sweet Gums, even some of the Beeches which seem to be featured here are already busting out some hefty Autmun color, as the trip through the forest proper reveals. We take this nice slow-moving lane through the forest to assess just to what extent all this stuff is occurring. It’s pretty rewarding. We begin lower down, where the  leaf colors have only just begun changing.

The sheer variety of species is another Kentucky richness not seen many places. Spring and Fall reveal an absurd diversity of color and bloom that truly boggles the mind.

Spotting the higher elevation’s leaf changes soon come to the fore, such as this red-tinged little area:

Soon enough, we get a great glimpse of what, basically, the entire forest will look like in a matter of weeks. The brilliant yellows stand out stunningly amidst all the greenery, offering a prelude to the Fall display:

Then it gets better as a beam of sunlight sifts through the forest canopy and highlights a very yellow tree, all ready to show itself in its Fall finery::

Our escapade then takes us up to the Forest Canopy Walk – an outlook constructed by the Park to provide a look from the virtual top levels of the forest itself.

I love the ironwork and this shot of the autumn color between the rails

Mom takes a big ole gander at the view from high in the canopy.

Another perspective a a great vista:

Back down at the entry, the more groomed parts of the Bernheim Forest grounds are really super stuff. Here are trees planted at the edge of the forest which has sort of crept in behind -

But the sweeping lawn vistas in Bernheim, I really enjoy immensely – such grand swaths of green grass. Some, like this one, leading down to the lake and the extremely=landscaped office and enclosed garden areas.

The beauty of Bernheim takes a lot of dimensions, in short. It just screams “Kentucky!” to me, somehow.

(left click all pictures to enlarge)

My trips to Louisville have nearly always included a visit to the Cave Hill Cemetery. It’s wide open expanses with those sobering small white soldier’s tombstones dotting the exceptionally green native Bluegrass never failed to evoke the tragedy and sadness which typifies warfare. The irony of Kentucky as a traditional Border State meant that there are sections here for both sides of the Civil War – a large Confederate burial section as well as one for Union soldiers. That’s what we see in the pictures above and below.

But there is far more, especially for a cemetery which did not begin as a “garden cemetery” as was fashionable at the time of its inception: 1846. It did indeed evolve into just that, of course, with gorgeous and stunningly beautiful trees planted in perfect locations – a product of the many landscape architects who threw their hands in at various times. Here is a blurb from their own website:

“When it came time in late 1846 to add the graveyard component to Cave Hill, the mayor and the city council apparently did not consciously set out to make a garden cemetery, which by then was a concept gaining popularity in the major cities of America. But, propitiously, they appointed a committee that selected a civil engineer who had firsthand experience of the emerging cemetery concept. Edmund Francis Lee (1811-1857) convinced the city fathers to utilize the natural features of Cave Hill which previously had been considered quite undesirable for burying purposes. To Lee, the old Cave Hill farm was perfectly suited for cemetery purposes. Its promontories would become the primary bury sites. The roads to these hilltop circles would curve gently following the natural contours. The intervening basins would become ponds or be planted with trees and maintained as reserves. The garden setting would be a natural backdrop for the lots and monuments and the cemetery would receive perpetual attention and could never be violated—stipulations never before provided. Here then was a place not to be shunned, but a park to be sought out for its beauty and the spiritual elevation gained from contemplating the collective accomplishments of its inhabitants.

In the Victorian period, personal wealth increased, as did family aggrandizement. The garden cemetery became the repository of symbols of success in the form of truly monumental art. The landscape gardener embellished the natural setting with exotic trees and shrubs while the marble sculptors and granite fabricators erected elaborate memorials to individuals and families. Cave Hill has been blessed by a succession of competent and innovative landscape gardeners, and Louisville has been a regional center for monument makers. The result is a rural, or garden, cemetery which has always been considered a model to emulate.”

Gorgeous works stud the hillsides for veritable miles. Turn a corner and yet another fascinating blend of quiet and purposeful stonework greets the eye – dedicated to the dead.

In the older works, we see great technique and marvelous forms created from stone. In the newer ones, we see that as well, but we also find bronze and metal sculpture taking place which captures the imagination. Here is a descending eagle alighting atop a headstone in a breathless and voluptuous silence only a cemetery can deal, pregnant with meaning and even history for those for whom it is intended.

Here are some older headstones, reflecting the 19th and earlier 20th Century’s artisan ship at stone creations. This one has to be enlarged to fully enjoy. There is Peace, regret, idealism and sadness in these absolute works of art.

More modern times are also well-represented. A mix of iron work and stone crafting has yeilded remarkable pieces:

Below is the gravestone of Harry Collins, a well-known local magician in Louisville who performed for countless children in town and at conventions and fairs for corporate sponsors. A definite local icon, I just adore this beautiful statue of a beloved local figure.

And of course, there is the grave of Kentucky’s third-most famous man after Abe Lincoln and Muhammed Ali:

Colonel Sanders!

Lush and verdant, Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery is a totally involving urban experience, the likes of which I have not encountered elsewhere. Rustic, composed of literally priceless antiques and representative of so many different Eras and Periods Of Time and Fashion, it stands alone as a quiet and powerful representation of the respect and the awe in which we have viewed the beloved of us who have passed on.

But perhaps the most evocative of all the regions, for me, in this glorious piece of land are those simpler graves which still respect and honor those of less means, without the crafty artisan ship. These small but equally-evocative headstones mean the world to me:

Hundreds of years of slightly acidic rainfall is doing its best to render the stones back to their former blank selves, as we lose the lettering of these old stones for people buried in the mid-18th Century and onwards.

But some do stand out, somehow missing the worst effects of modern rainfall.

We spent three hours rummaging around and walking among headstones, my brother Tom and I. I am delighted I could, frankly. It’s something I have always wanted to give a full measure of time to. This is an experience with the permanence of death of course, as are all graveyards, but it also is a journey through fashion, art, landscape technique, urban design and preservation and the stark common sense which also tells us even the stones themselves are less permanent that we might have assumed. The Circle is made even larger than one knew.

What a beautiful place.

BELGRAVIA

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Any time spent prowling these two great adjoining neighborhoods is a treat for the eyes and senses. Mature landscaping, impeccably restored turn-of-the-century homes and the well-designed boulevards of both neighborhoods yield an urban planner’s feast. All the virtues of urban landscaping simply seem so implicit in the design. It gives an incredibly satisfying sensuality to the ambiance of such a relaxing and all-enveloping stroll along these gorgeous streets and sidewalks. Sights and even smells abound. Lavenders, Mints of various types and those other gorgeous scents of exotics and even the odor of some of the native flora make it seem even more scrumptious somehow.

At this time of the season – late Fall – you get the benefits of the colors of deciduous leaves (as in the Burning Bush above) and the aroma of their deterioration, mixed with some fireplace smoke and the spicy effects of scented plantings. It’s funny. The smells are almost what I remember most when I walk this gorgeous area. You get those effects, mixed with what I often assume is the distillery smell of corn mash. Yummy stuff.

In the end, it is difficult to say what strikes one as the most impressive aspect of either of the two streets. There is simply so much to like. From its obviously planned beginnings, the urban master plan offers a very organized and supportive environment for the best sort of living. The area demands that you walk it, even if you live there. Time spent outdoors is an inherent positive. As mentioned, the odors, the plantings and the gorgeous revolving seasonal effects are pretty mind-blowing, really. It takes such splendid advantage of a true 4 Season climate.

Secondly – but still equally impressive – are the designs of the homes themselves. These are not your garden variety tract homes. Yes, it was a classic “tract” at its onset, but any similarity with our modern concept of tract housing stops at pretty much the first pace. Designers had a field day with these varied and special homes. Where St. James Court has these stately mansions in a riot of designs, Belgravia has a much more urban and “squeezed” look. These homes are close enough to practically be apartments together, with far less independent land between the homes.

The craftsmanship of these buildings is pretty doggone impressive. I especially love the masonry. Check out these bits of brick work, now over 100 years old but as impressive as any European work, using American products:

Even this one, still in the process of renovation, sand-blasting and then refurbishing (and note too the gorgeous old glass windows):

Kentucky is always noteworthy for the astounding variety and perfection of its many craftspeople. Wood, for example, in Kentucky, is a medium of incredibly wide usage using an amazingly wide assortment of tree products. Mandolins, sculpture, even those incredibly gorgeous “weed pots” illustrate the inherent beauty of the craftsman’s touch and are in huge demand, world-wide. It is said that Kentucky actually possesses the widest range of living and native species of trees in the world. All these trees, from the native Kentucky Coffee Tree to the various Cedars, Pines, Redbuds and Dogwoods, provide a stunning array of products for the wood craftsman.

But what stunned Frederick Olmstead, Edison and many more modern others was also the professionalism of the artisans so abundant in that interesting state. The stonework on these homes is somewhere beyond world-class, if such a thing can be said. The bridges alone in Cherokee Park are famous for their craftsmanship and beauty, much less the stone work on the fabulous and various mansions built around the the period – and later – when Louisville’s homes were constructed.

All this naturally mirrors an ethic very much alive in this town so immersed in American history and in native American Crafts. I’ll cheat now and show a bit of the downtown area as well, simply because I love baseball so much and always manage to find a spot for The Big Bat! OK, guess what this baseball bat represents!

Baseball fans won’t have much trouble recognizing the Louisville Slugger premises. Here is where every Louisville Slugger baseball bat is and has been hand made for Pro Ballplayers since 1890. The tour is really delightful and includes a museum where baseballs signed by every US President are displayed and including signed bat contracts from players like babe Ruth to Willie Mays and Barry Bonds. For collectors, it’s the equivalent of Fort Knox, lol.

In closing this post, I want to further emphasize Louisville’s intense interest and now-abiding care for its own fabulous history. The shots below are all taken along Main Street, a street teeming with old Iron Buildings now being renovated and upgraded to modern usages, but with the historical facades kept and refurbished, intact. It is not only a trip through a great history, but also a trip to witness architectural wonder and the craftsmanship that allowed such a pass in reality. Enjoy and thanks for dropping in.

Now THIS is a street light!

I just spent a week in Louisville, in town for my niece Meagan’s wedding to her very cool groom, Jeff. It was a fabulous reunion among the very diverse members of our family, actually being the first time all those assembled had been together since the ’60’s! I was reminded while there of why I so adore the fine city and the people of Louisville. I wax on about the place from time to time and, with San Fransisco and maybe New York City, Louisville is my favorite place in America. There are a wild number of reasons why, including the city’s gracious irreverence,  but that will be for another time. This one is about an old stomping ground. This is all about St. James Court and Belgravia, divided into two posts.

Built in the 1880’s, alongside what was once the remarkable “Southern Exposition”, (intended to last for 3 months in 1884 and which, instead, lasted 4 years!) this neighborhood was an expansion to the South from the initial fairgrounds. Here is a look at what it once looked like – at the onset:

Glorious and ornate Victorian mansions sat side by side in a wonderful mix of styles and esoteric exoticism in a virtual riot of fabulous architecture amid an incredibly livable environment. Urbane and distinctly Southern for all of that, the court now hosts a most remarkable Art Fair, listed as the best Art Fair in the country and one which – incredibly – hosts more visitors than the famous Kentucky Derby. Some 300,000 visitors stroll this neighborhood looking at juried artwork. Here is a link to the Art Fair Site itself, complete with easily navigable areas, and rife with information and pictures of the art and the artists: St James Court Art Show

What makes it so unique in general I guess is simply the totality of its history. Interestingly enough, there were some perfectly astounding then-modern events surrounding the initial Southern Exposition, among which was the introduction, en mass, of what was then an then-unheard of number of electric lights. Indeed, Thomas Edison himself helped set the event up and spent much time there himself. Here is an excerpt from a bit of lore from this most interesting historical record: History

“Not only that, but the building and grounds (Central Park was the midway) were illuminated by over 4600 incandescent electric lights, the largest concentration anywhere at that time, more even than in New York City.  This is one of the reasons that Old Louisville was one of the earliest electrically lit neighborhoods in the nation.

<…Mr. Edison’s fabulous display of “4,800 incandescent lights of 16-candle power each which came on every evening to bedazzle the beholder. The contract with the Edison Company,” wrote The Courier-Journal, “is the largest ever made for lighting a building with electric lights. The cost of the plant was $100,000 alone, and it is said to have taken 100 men working constantly for a month to string all the wires and to get the equipment in working order…. It is now common practice for parties to go to the exposition, arranging to take their supper at one of the places of refreshment in the evening sunlight, then pass into the dusk of the building to watch the marvelous expansion of the electric light.”
Ask anyone who was a child back in the ’80s and he will tell you about that breath-taking experience. For no matter how often he saw it (and families went over and over again), the miracle was always the same.  There was a quiet that covered the waiting crowds. Then an amber glow began to seep through the dusk, brightening, brightening—until what had been familiar corridors of the big barn-like building became for him aisles of blinding light and beauty, touched with the gold of heaven.>  Excerpt from Fond Recollection, Melville O. Briney, 1949

The Southern Exposition 1883-1887: Louisville had toyed with the idea of hosting a large exposition since the 1870s.  The success of the Atlanta Cotton Expo of 1881 greatly spurred interest in Louisville to hold a grand Southern Exposition.

An electric railway, designed by Edison,  took visitors around the exposition grounds and all around Central Park.  We heard this was the public premier of the electric trolley concept.  Maybe it was, if not it was certainly a premier for the region, and quite impressive with its tunnel of incandescent lights reputed to be wired by Thomas Edison himself.  A few years later Louisville had one of the best electric trolley systems in the country, and had at least double the number of street railroads of any other city its size. And of course, the most famous trolley line in the country was here in Old Louisville, the Toonerville Trolley.

The St James Court area went into some disuse for a long time, especially owing to the suburban movement of Louisville’s population of which we – my family – were also numbered among those opting for less urban environments. The fact is, after I had been away from Kentucky for quite some time in the military and on with life on the West Coast, my parents had relocated to Louisville and had moved into one of these houses on this very street. I did not even know where it was!

Here’s the front of their home, the rented bottom floor of which my Mom and Dad renovated. It was incredibly well constructed and just riddled with strange little quirks. Here:

And here is Mother, relishing yet another visit to her old stomping grounds. I mean – honestly – what’s not to like? (Including Mom! Aren’t they all pretty cool?)

Just like her 100% attendance at Louisville basketball games, my Mom never misses the Art Show.

Next: Belgravia Court