Appalachia: A Regional Geography: Land, People, And Development

Although Appalachia has long been recognized as one of the most distinctive subregions in North America and has been studied widely as an "underdeveloped problem area," this book is the first to provide a comparative and analytical geographical perspective on the entire Appalachian region rather than on portions of it. The authors highlight the div

Politics & Social Sciences

Raitz, Karl

Social Sciences

Routledge

Gray rock fences built of ancient limestone are hallmarks of Kentucky's Bluegrass landscape. Why did Kentucky farmers turn to rock as fence-building material when most had earlier used hardwood rails? Who were the masons responsible for Kentucky's lovely rock fences and what are the different rock forms used in this region? In this generously illustrated book, Carolyn Murray-Wooley and Karl Raitz address those questions and explore the background of Kentucky's rock fences, the talent and skill of the fence masons, and the Irish and Scottish models they followed in their work. They also correct inaccurate popular perceptions about the fences and use census data and archival documents to identify the fence masons and where they worked. As the book reveals, the earliest settlers in Kentucky built dry-laid fences around eighteenth-century farmsteads, cemeteries, and mills. Fence building increased dramatically during the nineteenth century so that by the 1880s rock fences lined most roads, bounded pastures and farmyards throughout the Bluegrass. Farmers also built or commissioned rock fences in New England, the Nashville Basin, and the Texas hill country, but the Bluegrass may have had the most extensive collection of quarried rock fences in North America. This is the first book-length study on any American fence type. Filled with detailed fence descriptions, an extensive list of masons' names, drawings, photographs, and a helpful glossary, it will appeal to folklorists, historians, geographers, architects, landscape architects, and masons, as well as general readers intrigued by Kentucky's rock fences.

Rock Fences of the Bluegrass (Perspectives On Kentucky's Past)

History

Murray-Wooley, Carolyn

Americas

University Press of Kentucky

Eighteenth-century Kentucky beckoned to hunters, surveyors, and settlers from the mid-Atlantic coast colonies as a source of game, land, and new trade opportunities. Unfortunately, the Appalachian Mountains formed a daunting barrier that left only two primary roads to this fertile Eden. The steep grades and dense forests of the Cumberland Gap rendered the Wilderness Road impassable to wagons, and the northern route extending from southeastern Pennsylvania became the first main thoroughfare to the rugged West, winding along the Ohio River and linking Maysville to Lexington in the heart of the Bluegrass.Kentucky's Frontier Highway reveals the astounding history of the Maysville Road, a route that served as a theater of local settlement, an engine of economic development, a symbol of the national political process, and an essential part of the Underground Railroad. Authors Karl Raitz and Nancy O'Malley chart its transformation from an ancient footpath used by Native Americans and early settlers to a central highway, examining the effect that its development had on the evolution of transportation technology as well as the usage and abandonment of other thoroughfares, and illustrating how this historic road shaped the wider American landscape.

Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road

O'Malley, Nancy

With more than fifty distilleries in the state, bourbon is as synonymous with Kentucky as horses and basketball. As one of the commonwealth's signature industries, bourbon distilling has influenced the landscape and heritage of the region for more than two centuries. Blending several topics--tax revenue, railroads, the mechanics of brewing, geography, landscapes, and architecture--this primer and geographical guide presents a detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry. Nineteenth-century distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Distillers often operated at comparatively remote sites--the "backroads"--to take advantage of water sources or transport access. Some distillers adopted mechanization and the steam engine, forgoing water power--a change that permitted geographical relocation of distilleries away from traditional sites along creeks or at large springs to urban or rural rail-side sites. Based on extensive archival research that includes private paper collections, newspapers, and period documents, this work places the distilling process in its environmental, geographical, and historical context. Bourbon's Backroads reveals the places where bourbon's heritage was made--from old and new distilleries, storage warehouses, railroad yards, and factories where copper fermenting vessels are made--and why the industry continues to thrive.

Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape

Business & Money

Industries

South Limestone, an imprint of University Press of Kentucky

Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky

While other industries chase after the new and improved, bourbon makers celebrate traditions that hearken back to an authentic frontier craft. Distillers enshrine local history in their branding and time-tested recipes, and rightfully so. Kentucky's unique geography shaped the whiskeys its settlers produced, and for more than two centuries, distilling bourbon fundamentally altered every aspect of Kentucky's landscape and culture. Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky illuminates how the specific geography, culture, and ecology of the Bluegrass converged and gave birth to Kentucky's favorite barrel-aged whiskey. Expanding on his fall 2019 release Bourbon's Backroads, Karl Raitz delivers a more nuanced discussion of bourbon's evolution by contrasting the fates of two distilleries in Scott and Nelson Counties. In the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry. The resulting infrastructure--farms, mills, turnpikes, railroads, steamboats, lumberyards, and cooperage shops--left its permanent mark on the land and traditions of the commonwealth. Today, multinational brands emphasize and even construct this local heritage. This unique interdisciplinary study uncovers the complex history poured into every glass of bourbon.

Kentucky's landscape is punctuated by landmark structures that signpost bourbon's venerable story: distilleries long-standing, relict, razed, and brand new, the grand nineteenth-century homes of renowned distillers, villages and neighborhoods where distillery laborers lived, Whiskey Row storage warehouses, river landings and railroad yards, and factories where copper distilling vessels and charred white oak barrels are made. During the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Distillers often operated at comparatively remote sites--along the "backroads"--to take advantage of water sources or river or turnpike transport access. As time passed, steam power and mechanization freed the industry from its reliance on waterpower and permitted distillers to relocate to urban and rural rail-side sites. This shift also allowed distillers to perfect their production techniques, increase their capacity, and refine their marketing strategies. The historic progression produced the "fine" Kentucky bourbons that are available to present day consumers.&nbsp;Yet, distillers have not abandoned their cultural roots and traditions; their iconic products embrace the modern while also engaging their history and geography. Blending several topics--inventions and innovations in distilling and transport technologies, tax policy, geography, landscapes, and architecture--this primer and geographical guide presents an accessible and detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry and explains how the industry continues to thrive.

While other industries chase after the new and improved, bourbon makers celebrate traditions that hearken back to an authentic frontier craft. Distillers enshrine local history in their branding and time-tested recipes, and rightfully so. Kentucky's unique geography shaped the whiskeys its settlers produced, and for more than two centuries, distilling bourbon fundamentally altered every aspect of Kentucky's landscape and culture.\nMaking Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky illuminates how the specific geography, culture, and ecology of the Bluegrass converged and gave birth to Kentucky's favorite barrel-aged whiskey. Expanding on his fall 2019 release Bourbon's Backroads, Karl Raitz delivers a more nuanced discussion of bourbon's evolution by contrasting the fates of two distilleries in Scott and Nelson Counties. In the nineteenth century, distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry. The resulting infrastructure―farms, mills, turnpikes, railroads, steamboats, lumberyards, and cooperage shops―left its permanent mark on the land and traditions of the commonwealth. Today, multinational brands emphasize and even construct this local heritage. This unique interdisciplinary study uncovers the complex history poured into every glass of bourbon.

The University Press of Kentucky

Authors present an extensive, well-organized compilation of geographic facts and statistics on many topics, including climate, geology, population characteristics, culture, manufacturing, transportation and agricultural resources of this unique region of America.

Ulack, Richard

Leinbach, Thomas R

Westview Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raitz, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Raitz, Karl

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raitz, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Appalachia: A Regional Geography: Land, People, And Development

Appalachia: A Regional Geography: Land, People, And Development

Rock Fences of the Bluegrass (Perspectives On Kentucky's Past)

Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road

Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape

Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky

Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape

Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky

Appalachia: A Regional Geography: Land, People, And Development