, TOUR I 7A 419
e
s
j' Tour 17A
E; Paris—Boonesboro—Richmond, 39.1 m.; US 227.
i Hard-surfaced roadbed throughout.
° All types of accommodations in towns; limited elsewhere.
y Between Paris and Richmond US 227 winds through that part of
2 eastern Kentucky where the inner Bluegrass gives way to the outer
2 Bluegrass, with a hint here and there of the mountains whose foothills
5 begin only a few miles to the east. The highway passes black locust
. trees near gates and roadways; wide pastures shaded with twisted oak,
. black walnut, and beech trees; stock farms outlined by wooden fences
2 and old limestone walls, some made by slave labor; great barns, many
with the side ventilators indicating their use for tobacco storage; and
- houses less over-modernized and pretentious than many found near
r Lexington. Spring brings out the wild locust bloom; and the honey-
suckle, wild rose, and trumpet vine clamber over the fences. In the
; stonier sections the blue-berried red cedar comes up. There are scatter-
ings of woodland—scraggly second-growth hickory, oak, maple, and
L sycamore—but the greater part of the landscape is divided into wide
_ squares of bluegrass, corn, and such.soil—improving crops as clover, rye,
3 and alfalfa. The tobacco patches are smaller, but they growua white
burley that is thinner and finer than silk.
This region is so generous that it was among the first to draw settlers,
5 who risked torture and death at the hands of the Indians, determined to
_ keep their hunting grounds. Besides descendants of these first settlers,
2 many of whom still live here, there are a few wealthy Eastern sports-
_ men and gentlemen farmers.
US 227 branches south from PARIS, O m. (826 alt., 6,204 pop.)
5 (see T0ur 15), which is at the junction with US 68 (see Tour 15),
State 40 (see Tour 17), and US 27 (see Taur 3).
g South of Paris horse farms stretch along both sides of the road.
Their stone, wire, and wood paddocks run end-to-end from the edge of
b .the highway back across the gently uneven fields dotted with oaks and
other trees; a few horses can be seen in one or another of the checker-
board pastures. Unlike the big wealthy farms around Lexington, most .
of these farms are not show places, but the use of low, weathered stone
fences for paddocks lends a special charm to the scene.
In the CLAr12oRNE THOROUGHBRED STUD BARN (open an request),
1.3 m. (L), owned by A. B. Hancock, were foaled some of the greatest
thoroughbreds in the history of racing, including Gallant Fox, a Derby