Kentucky

Abandoned structures are places that open the imagination, invite interpretation, and tell stories of bygone eras. This book features photography from the author's journeys throughout the blight of the Appalachian Foothills, featuring autumnal colors and remnants of the once thriving coal mining regions. The unique distress, dark history, and objects left behind in the photos display an up-close and personal vantage point not accessible to passerby.

Readers will enjoy stunning photos that display a look into Eastern Kentucky's rich heritage. Through the twists, turns, hills, and valleys, a world unknown to outsiders is thoughtfully explored and documented. Abandoned farmhouses, storefronts and industrial buildings, old-time schools, a country church, a historic mansion of a town founder, coal mining equipment, roadside cars, and more, all collectively make Abandoned Eastern Kentucky a must read for photography and history enthusiasts. Enjoy the beautiful contrast between Americana and a chilling past.

Concentrating on the early twentieth century, Images of America: Louisville celebrates a dynamic community and the people, both famous and everyday, who have contributed to its lasting legacy.

Since its founding at the Falls of the Ohio by George Rogers Clark in 1778, Louisville and its people have looked to the mighty Ohio River as the city's lifeblood. Louisville has counted on the river for transportation, commerce, leisure, culture, and natural beauty. Characterized by abundant opportunity-both professional and recreational-this renowned city has grown and prospered to become the business and industrial center of Kentucky.

Is Louisville the southernmost midwestern town, or is it an upper south, southern city? This identity crisis has arisen from a historical diversity of people, industries, architecture, and commerce. Louisville has been home to large populations of German, Irish, French, and other immigrants. Large multi-national corporations, such as General Electric, Brown Forman, Philip Morris, and UPS have also called Louisville home over the years. The city counts among its famous sons William Clark, who, with Merriwether Lewis, led the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803, and sports icon Muhammad Ali. Local streets boast modern architectural treasures such as the Humana Building, designed by Michael Graves, and the American Life Building by Mies van der Rohe. Louisville is also home to Churchill Downs and the country's premier equestrian competition, the Kentucky Derby. These and many other notable facets of the city's rich heritage are illuminated in the vintage photographs within this volume.

Controlled by the heavy hand of the mob and fueled by government corruption, Newport evolved through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into a notoriously robust center of criminal activity.

With top political and law enforcement officials often on the take, the seedy status quo became so excessive that a May 1961 issue of Time magazine declared, "Newport has developed such a gaudy brand of gambling and prostitution that it stands today as one of the nation's most blatant sin centers." Eastern Kentucky University Professors Gary Potter and Thomas Barker, both experts on organized crime, along with Jenna Meglen, offer up a captivating chronicle of Newport's criminal development, complete with thought-provoking assessments of the possible advantages that organized crime brought to the city commonly considered to be Las Vegas's predecessor.

Kentucky's motto may be ""united we stand, divided we fall,"" but during the civil war, brother fought brother to the bitter end.

The Civil War sharply split the Bluegrass State. Kentuckians fought Kentuckians in some of the bloodiest battles of America's bloodiest war. The names and faces of the winning and losing generals of those battles are in most history books. But this book is not like most history books; it is about hidden history. Most of the stories are not found in other books. Some are proof that the Civil War was truly ""a brother's war"" in the home state of Lincoln and Davis. From the Graves County gun grab to pirates in Paducah to dueling gunboats on the Mississippi, this one-of-a-kind collection of little-known tales by Kentucky historian Berry Craig will captivate Civil War enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

Over the years, Bobby Mackey's Music World has played host to countless real-life horror stories and a string of criminal activity. Illegal gambling and liquor abounded when it later served as the Bluegrass Inn.

The site has been the location of death and destruction since the nineteenth century, including illegal lynchings and a bridge collapse killing forty-one men. In more recent years, mafia bosses turned it into a mafia-controlled nightclub known as the Latin Quarter. Beginning with the caretaker who fell under a demonic possession to more recent encounters between patrons and the paranormal, author Dan Smith revives the chilling stories that make it the most haunted nightclub in America.

Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but unfortunately so many more are lost forever.

The famous Phoenix Hotel, a longtime stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now. Join local blogger, attorney and preservationist Peter Brackney as he explores the intriguing back stories of these hidden Bluegrass treasures.

A pictorial history of Garrard County's everyday people going about their lives ... and so much more!

Nestled in the bluegrass region of central Kentucky, Garrard County traces its pioneer beginnings to the mid-1770s. Officially founded in 1797, the county remains predominantly rural to this day. Its citizens are patriotic, service-oriented, and proud of their communities and ancestors. In this volume, county resident Rita Mackin Fox has gathered more than 200 photographs, focusing primarily on residents on the farm, in towns and at school, work, worship and play. Each image will bring back memories or provide a glimpse of what life was like for earlier residents.

Fox also pays tribute to some notable people and events, including Kentucky Mountain Boy Bradley Kincaid, Carrie A. Nation, possible Uncle Tom's Cabin connections and a visit by a former king of England. This volume also contains images that show the formation of Herrington Lake, now a major recreation and tourism area.