Lexington contains a weird mix of cultures and history. There are two large universities in town, but it doesn't feel especially young or urban. There are blatantly poor neighborhoods within walking distance of glass skyscrapers and cemeteries with gravestones from the Revolutionary War era.

There's a new courthouse complex, with a fountain, where this 5-year-old boy escaped the heat one August day and an old courthouse near a district called Cheapside, where his ancestors may have been sold as slaves.

"It's a very conservative culture," says Janet Scott, a theater producer who moved to the city in 2001 from Manhattan.
"It's the last place I'd ever thought I'd be," she tells me.
"But slowing down I found to be a healthy problem. It takes a long time not to get pissed off at the grocery store in line."

Horses are a big deal here, too, of course, and this life size sculpture at Thoroughbred Park was probably the highlight of the city for me: