Mount Vernon is a beautiful city nestled in the Appalachian Mountains with tons of potential. During my visit I walked through its downtown area and found what you’d normally find in a southern county seat. The downtown consists of a main thoroughfare with adjoining two-story buildings of various designs along either side of the street. There’s a number of law offices, government buildings, and a very cool looking multi-level Mexican restaurant. The courthouse has a very all-business look to it. What I mean by that is that it lacks the architectural characteristics of more artistic buildings like those in Lawrenceburg or Georgetown. This building could easily house a school board or utility company. It’s just a big compound where a lot of work probably gets done but no one is going to pull over to take photos in front of it.
With regards to the community everything is very orderly. When I was there I didn’t see a lot of locals out and about. I’m not sure how many people actually live in downtown proper, though. It seems this downtown area is primarily reserved for the legal sector and possibly dining. I didn’t see many stores, markets, or really anything that would draw everyday foot traffic. I also didn’t see any sort of police presence. There were some motorcyclists who came through, as well as the random car passing by, but that was about it. That said I believe I was there on a Sunday morning so I would imagine traffic would be very light. Perhaps it’s far busier during the week.
Although Mount Vernon has a number of churches, my guess is that they’re not centrally located. Granted my walk consisted of the main part of downtown only, but I didn’t see many. Churches are a great way to drive up traffic – especially on weekends when folks have free time. I’m sure there’s plenty of organizations throughout Rockcastle County that probably hold events in Mount Vernon but I didn’t see anything like that on my visit. Other cities like Bardstown and Winchester will have banners, posters, and even murals about upcoming events. I didn’t see any of that here.
Each city/county does it there own way – that’s why we have 120 of them in Kentucky! It would be nice if Mount Vernon had more of the inviting feel than what I experienced. To be frank, it seemed like a bit of a ghost town.
One major issue I found relates to neglect. The whole point of Exploring Kentucky is to explore. My goal isn’t to throw shade at any community. My goal is to observe, document, and bring back what I’ve found to the Sights Sounds Flavors community. If I can offer up some constructive criticism, however, I don’t think that’s negative by any means. Who knows maybe someone from Mount Vernon’s city council or Rockcastle County leadership will see this and take action. You never know and sometimes things don’t get done until people speak up.
Ok, so about the neglect. Let’s start with the water tower. It’s rusted out and looks awful. I get that Mount Vernon was founded in 1810 and has a lot of history but I highly doubt that water tower is 210 years old. It looks old and neglected – probably not because its caretakers are preserving its historic significance but because they don’t want to either restore it or replace it. In a city where the vast majority of buildings are two-stories high, that water tower is an eye-grabber. The problem is it looks terrible.
The second major issue I found with Mount Vernon was the number of empty properties along the main thoroughfare. Many of the empty building were literally falling apart. Many of these buildings look very old and probably have rich histories. Sadly, the walls were crumbling, windows were broken, and in some cases doors were missing. Much of this falls on private owners who may not have a problem having derelict properties; however, the City of Mount Vernon and/or Rockcastle County should step in.
When empty buildings are neglected to the degree that walls are crumbling, windows are broken, and anyone can get in (from vermin to children) that’s a major issue. Further, who’s going to want to rent or buy a property in that kind of shape? And what can be said about the existing shops and existing residents who are forced to live around that? This area has tons of promise, but it’s going to take direct action from elected officials to turn this beautiful city around.
If I know local papers and media the way I do, they’d never write a story quite like this. Small towns are known for polite conversation and a sort of stay-in-your-own-lane kind of mindset. No one wants to rock the apple cart or overstep sensibilities, but when you have entire downtown city blocks in a city as beautiful as this, something needs to be done.
Anyways, I enjoyed my visit to Mount Vernon and hope my two cents make their way to someone in government who can show Mount Vernon some much needed TLC. This isn’t something citizens can fix. This is one of those times that only government, with government’s power, needs to step in and lay down the law. Whether they fine irresponsible owners into keep up their properties or they restore these buildings out of their own pocket is entirely up to them.
Let’s see if anything is done..
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.