A House, A Photograph, A Story
Today I’m in Lexington, about to go for a walk in a neighborhood that is not my own but which has meaning for me because my parents live here. In class the other night we talked about whether you can know a place without knowing its history. The consensus, if there was one, was that a place is shaped by its history, but you don’t necessarily have to know that history in order to be shaped by that place.
This house was where my Great Aunt Sally died more than 80 years ago. We drove by the house the last time I was in Lexington and Dad told the story of going with his father to his Aunt Sally’s wake in this house when he was a little boy. Dad also spoke about a racetrack across the street from the house, a track that preceded Keeneland, Lexington’s current track. I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of the house. It is quite different from all the other houses on the block. It looks like a castle.
A few weeks after my last visit to Kentucky there was an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader about this very house. It was home to Courtney Mathews, an African-American horse trainer who probably trained 1902 Kentucky Derby winner Alan-a-Dale. Mathew’s funeral was held 13 years later in the same house where my Aunt Sally’s took place. It’s a house that may soon be named to the National Register of Historic Places. The same house I photographed on a muggy June day 71 years later.
I guess this shows which side I take in a discussion on history and place.
One thought on “A House, A Photograph, A Story”
Dear Classmates – We have in our class a real life writer/blogger in Anne. I commend to you her posts. They are wonderful examples, in my opinion, of capturing many of the things we are looking for through our studies. Read some, and see what you think. As for this one, Anne, it uses the elements of your experience, past and present, including your father's, to make the case for history's enriching ways. Seeing the house without the stories, it could be, as you said, a castle-like house, different from its neighbors. But with the stories, the layers of life, it not only takes on character and standing, like Stewart Brand explains in How Buildings Learn, but also qualifies for the National Trust for Historic Buildings. That's something. Big thanks. Charles Yonkers