Description
In Kentucky: Historic Houses and Horse Farms, pre-eminent architectural and interiors photographer Pieter Estersohn guides us through Bluegrass Country, the legendary landscape around Lexington, Kentucky. The wealthiest town west of the Alleghenies prior to the Civil War, Lexington has a wealthy architectural and cultural history that may be manifest within the elegant houses within and across the center. Equally compelling is the equestrian heritage that has made Lexington the “Horse Capital of the World.”
A number of the properties presented are Ashland, an Italian-inspired villa built for distinguished statesman and orator Henry Clay; Pope Villa, considered one of only two extant residences by Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the U.S. Capitol; Waveland, a fully intact Greek Revival estate from the 1830s; and Pleasant Hill, the largest restored Shaker community within the country.
Dramatic aerial photographs celebrate the rolling landscape and expansive horse farms, including Gainesway Farm, a 1,500 acre web site that has produced an impressive roster of legendary Throughbreds.
Kentucky is a multifaceted and compelling portrait of a unique a part of our country that combines a reverence for history and Southern traditions of hospitality and generosity with a very important present.