“Your mind will always believe everything you tell it. Feed it hope. Feed it truth. Feed it with love.” ~ Unknown
revival-esque
I really wish the vehicles had not been in front of these revival townhouses in Maysville because the businesses on the bottom floor were open. They were calling for me to take a closer look. Alas, I had to view them from across the street, where we had made our exit from the Kentucky Gateway Museum after a wonderful day of collegiality. As I have been deep in research of the Caskey House in the context of the West Liberty of 1910, I am struck by how differently Maysville and West Liberty have approached their urban preservation. Even before the 2012 tornado, West Liberty had razed – or had lost to burning – the majority of its built environment since 1910. Meanwhile, Maysville has managed to save and continue to use an enormous number of its urban structures. That preservation has afforded Maysville unlimited economic opportunity that other towns, like West Liberty, don’t have. People want character even if they don’t fully recognize or appreciate it, but all you have to do is take someone to a town that has preserved its built history, and they will want to stay, explore, have lunch, find a fun shop, and drop some cash. You take those same people to a modern town –by modern I mean the bland beige and/or pole-barn metal architecture that passes for American architectural affordability these days– and they’ll want to move on. And why wouldn’t they? Vintage architecture versus Dollar Store design is no competition. Kudos to Maysville for making a significant effort to save the character of their town. It pays off.
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