About Town: Bits of Lexington

Regular readers know I’m a sucker for Lexington history – or any history. I collect vintage and antique Lexington postcards and search through online auction sites and antique bookstores for anything Lexington related.

Most times I regale you with events from Edwin Worthen’s "A Calendar History." I’m sure by now you probably think it’s the only book I own.

Nope, I have more antique history books than I can count – and they run the gamut.

Off the top of my head: Charles Hudson, Frank Warren Coburn, Edwin Worthen (other books),  J.W. Freese, Richard Kollen, S. Lawrence Whipple, Alice “Mickey” Hinkle and Andrea Cleghorn, and J. S. Barry. There are other books, brochures and antique pamphlets hidden in the piles on my desk.

I also have folders filled with brochures and pictures of the old Lexington Park.

Since I live on what was the park I have one green-glass insulator from the park’s electrical lines. It surfaced in the backyard after a storm.

We found a broken Dalrymple Milk bottle with Lexington etched on the side, but can’t find evidence that particular dairy existed.  

My daughter found a dirt pile behind the trees out back. It was filled with old bottles, mostly whiskey and beer – unlike the milk bottle, they are intact.

My neighbor gets to live within feet of the old bear pit. We probably live on what was then the teenager’s version of a drinking spot. 

I have a Lexington Park commemorative plate and a few other remnants of the park.

A few weeks ago I found an the sixth edition of  Fred S. Piper’s handbook, "Lexington: The Birthplace of American Liberty."

I’m sure it’s been reprinted over and over since its 1902 debut and my 1920 copy, but I like owning the older versions. It makes the history come alive and the reading more inviting – for me anyway. Fred was the Lexington Historical Society’s president and its historian.

He shares information I know and bits and piece that are new -- to me.

For instance, we know that basin at the foot of Capt. John Parker’s statue was a trough for horses. I didn’t know the statue’s foundation had two opposing ground-level basins for animals too short to reach the upper stone bowl.

There is also a parchment paper map in the back of the book that is familiar, but shows how much we’ve grown since 1920.

Where, you ask, am I going with this.

If you live here you love history – it comes with the territory (so to speak).

Do you own or know anything from or about the town’s past? Are you connected to it in some way?

Would you share a picture with us - and maybe an explanation.

you go first!