Kentucky Horse Farms & Black Hamlets

Where in Kentucky is Lexington and the Bluegrass Basin? See a complete list of Bluegrass web sites.
 

A map of horse farms, each shown by a horse symbol, covering the same area as the topographic sheet used in this course. Forbes magazine says that the most costly horse farm on the market today is Highland Farm, a n "equestrian property" outside of Lexington, KY. Its $60 million price tag includes 115 breed mares, 30 barns, 19 houses, and 2,000 bluegrass acres. The main house has 9 bedrooms and 12 baths [Source: Too Much, Fall 2001, p. 5.].

To learn more about all aspects of Thoroughbred Racing," go to the THE KENTUCKY DERBY MUSEUM.


Compare the symbols used on the horse farm diagram with those on a topographic map.
All topographic maps on these web pages come from the Kentucky Centerville Quadrangle (1:24,000).
The conventional map symbols for houses and barns have very different shapes here. Why?

Diagram of a typical horse farm.

An actual horse farm on a topographic map.

 
    
 

The photographs below show you how the cultural landscape looks on the Centerville map.
Study these before or while you do the map assignment.

The big house, barns, wooden fences, and horses.

Horse farm scene with a very large barn.

Look at a close up of
1) the main horse barn on the Kentucky (State) Horse Park,
2) a specialized horse barn for breeding only, a distinctive horse gate
3) surface ponds
-- shown as blue areas on the topo maps -- are created to provide water for horses in this karst topography.

Karst is a special type of landscape that is formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone and dolomite. In the United States, 20 percent of the land surface is karst and 40 percent of the groundwater used for drinking comes from karst aquifers. Natural features of the landscape such as caves and springs are typical of karst regions. Karst landscapes are often spectacular scenic areas. The sinkhole plains and caves of central Kentucky serve as examples.


Compare two specific examples of topographic symbols and actual scenes on the ground:

 

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 20 February 1997; last revised on 30 January 2003.