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History and Beauty
Lexington, Kentucky, and The Gratz Park Inn
By Patti Nickell
Drive into Lexington, in the center of Kentucky's fabled Bluegrass region, and you will see a sign proudly proclaiming it "the horse capital of the world." That's no idle boast when you see that the city is surrounded by some 400 Thoroughbred farms, defined by miles of picket fences and white barns with distinctive red- and green-tiled roofs and spires, which turn out, quite simply, the best Thoroughbreds anywhere.
The farms are legendary – Calumet, Darby Dan, Claiborne, Gainesway, Three Chimneys – and the horses even more so: Man 'O War, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Seabiscuit (much of the movie about his amazing life and racing career was filmed here).
Beyond HorsesBut before Lexington gained fame for its horses, it was known for its famous residents. Before it became the "horse capital of the world," it was widely heralded as "the Athens of the West" for its culture, history and grand lifestyle.
The city's Transylvania College was the first institution of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains, and Lexington was the site of the first American performance of a Beethoven symphony.
Among its celebrated citizenry, it has counted a first lady (Mary Todd Lincoln), a distinguished senator (Henry Clay), a famed abolitionist (Cassius Clay) and a Confederate general (John Hunt Morgan). Many of their lives and, indeed, much of the 19th-century community's life, centered on a small jewel of a square – Gratz Park – in the historic district.
It is in this beautiful and historic setting that The Gratz Park Inn