Today I returned to the parking lots of Hamburg, perhaps with a little more than the warranted expectation of finding something interesting, based on my experience on Day 4. Again, I spent a portion walking on streets where walking was outright discouraged (as on Pavilion and Vendor) or not likely to be particularly useful anytime soon (as on Man O’ War). Certain things feel like missed opportunities (a flat, grassy area between Man O’ War and a detention pond; the lack of any potential footpaths on the two smaller streets, which are traversed by workers if not shoppers.). It may be interesting to note that my earliest impressions of Lexington were based on this area, when I visited a nearby smaller town during a business trip in 2005. The aesthetic of this area is contemporary and has remained relevant. Despite the bland music piped through (why do places like this insist on speakers outside when the music they play is so offensively inoffensive?) I was given a few seconds of joy by the sounds of a would-be opera singer.
Tag Archives: Hamburg
Day 4
Today’s walk provides a lot of support that my motivation for walking every street to find the hidden gems is in fact worthwhile. Certainly, I expect that some walks are not going to be terribly interesting, and I scheduled a pilot walk in Hamburg including part of it’s northern boundary on Winchester Road simply to see how bad it would be. Instead, I turned out some of the most interesting things to date.
I parked in a far corner of a parking lot and headed towards Sir Barton, then along Winchester Road, basically along a culvert. Nearing Grey Lag, I saw a sidewalk appear, leading from the shopping area along Sir Barton and Winchester to a park in the middle of the block. If one slipped off the path, however, you would discover a trail leading into the woods.
Following the trail for a short distance uncovered an old foundation wall, and the path continued from there. I headed back to my scheduled route, but found the allure of the hidden park too much to ignore, so I spent some extra time walking through it as well. I was more than a little surprised to find out that the park was centered on a horse cemetery, part of Hamburg Farms.
I headed back to my route and eventually passed the front of the horse cemetery again on the Sir Barton side, where it is clearly labeled. This may well be something that long-time Lexingtonians are well aware of, but I was surprised to find that this horse cemetery was in plain sight along a street I’ve driven down dozens of times.
I thought this walk nicely demonstrated a couple of points, one about the hidden gems of the urban fabric and another about the impact of pace on what we can allow ourselves to see in our built environment.