From horses to tobacco to bourbon, the barn is at the heart of Kentucky’s heritage and industry and is a staple of the Bluegrass landscape. In Kentucky Barns: Agricultural Heritage of the Bluegrass, Carol Peachee showcases the barns with exquisite photography. From elegant Thoroughbred farms to historical treasures like the 1803 stone barn of Runnymede Farm in Bourbon County, Peachee travels across the state to capture and preserve the diverse architecture, heritage, and design that make these structures special. A beautiful tribute to the legacy of the Bluegrass State, Kentucky Barns features nearly 400 full-color photos of both the interior and exterior of these beautiful and functional icons of American culture and industry.

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 rich architectural and cultural history that is manifest in the elegant houses within and around the center. Equally compelling is the equestrian heritage that has made Lexington the “Horse Capital of the World.” Among the properties presented are Ashland, an Italian-inspired villa built for distinguished statesman and orator Henry Clay; Pope Villa, one of only two extant residences by Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the U.S. Capitol; Waveland, a completely intact Greek Revival estate from the 1830s; and Pleasant Hill, the largest restored Shaker community in the country. Dramatic aerial photographs celebrate the rolling landscape and expansive horse farms, including Gainesway Farm, a 1,500 acre site that has produced an impressive roster of legendary Throughbreds. Kentucky is a multifaceted and compelling portrait of a unique part of our country that combines a reverence for history and Southern traditions of hospitality and generosity with a vital present.

A concise and amply illustrated introduction to Kentucky folk structures—log cabins, houses, cribs, and barns—that should be treasured as irreplaceable expressions of the cultural values of the Commonwealth's past.

On any given day, more than forty thousand horses roam the fields of the Bluegrass, and there are more than five hundred horse farms in the region known for its rich soil and rolling hills. Kentucky Horse Country: Images of the Bluegrass is renowned photographer James Archambeault's pictorial portrait of the natural beauty of Kentucky's Bluegrass region and the thriving thoroughbred industry for which it is famous. The book contains more than 150 full-color images ranging from tender scenes of mares and foals grazing, to the excitement of race day at Keeneland, to gorgeous landscapes of pristine white fences enclosing lush pastures. The region has long been associated with the best achievements of the equine world. In 1871, a horse named Lexington was foaled in Scott County, and many famous thoroughbreds can trace their lineage back to this great sire. Having photographed the bluegrass for decades, Archambeault is intimately familiar with the backstretch and the barns, the fields and the foals, that are known around the world. In the course of his career, he has been able to see many of the legendary horses that have made horse racing so exciting and popular: Affirmed, Alydar, Spectacular Bid, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Cigar. Rare photographs of these and other racing royalty are included in the book. The handsome barns and well-tended pastures found throughout central Kentucky have been the home to international racing champions, and now individuals from all over the world, including England, Ireland, Japan, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia, have a stake in the region's flourishing horse industry. As preeminent racing historian Edward L. Bowen notes in his introduction, "It is a special place where the ruler of Dubai and a stable groom have something in common; the queen of England can admire a leathery old jockey; a philanthropist and a veterinary professor have the same goals; and a $2 bettor celebrates at the same moment that a corporate CEO grits his teeth in disappointment." The vibrant photographs in Kentucky Horse Country are accompanied by Archambeault's captions and narrative descriptions, as well by a lively introduction to the history of thoroughbreds in the Bluegrass by Bowen. The book also includes a foreword by Kentucky native Steve Cauthen, the youngest jockey to win the Triple Crown, who once again calls the Bluegrass his home. James Archambeault's latest work is a Kentucky triple crown for those who love horses and horse racing, for those who revel in the magical beauty of the Bluegrass, and for those who are looking for a grand introduction to what makes this region so unique.