Visiting the Capitol Frankfort, Kentucky

We left Bardstown and drove a few hours over to the Kentucky Horse Park just north of Lexington, Kentucky. We set up camp in this really large park that more resembles a fairground with trees. There are over 250 sites here and it is mostly full. We have seen lots of horse trailer campers as there is an International horse jumping and riding event for young riders taking place at this time. Because of the large crowds here we chose to take a drive over to Frankfort, KY.

We decided it was time for us to visit another state capitol. Our sights were set upon visiting the small town and capitol of Kentucky, the city of Frankfort. Frankfort is the fifth smallest town home to a capitol in the USA and has a population of less than 27,000. The Kentucky River bisects through this scenic town and it is located just ENE of Lexington.

Our first stop was a visit to the state’s capitol building. Kentucky was the 15th state of the union and the current state capitol is its fourth building representing the capitol. The current one was constructed in 1910 and this Beaux Arts Style Capitol is adorned with historic murals and houses a collection of dolls (replicas of every Kentucky First Lady) each dressed in the inaugural gowns. This is really an amazing building and one of the finest state capitols we have visited.

Not far from the capitol is the Old Governor's Mansion which was modeled after Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's summer villa. It is said to be the oldest official executive residence still in use in the United States and is home to the current Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky. It is quite a stately building all by itself.

From the Old Governor's Mansion we walked around the quaint little downtown area noting some of the architecture. Also located downtown is the third building used as the state capitol. Not a lot was happening in the small town but we found it interesting enough for a visit anyhow. Next we hopped back into the car and headed for Fort Hill. Fort Hill is where a large cemetery is located and is where we found the gravesites of Kentucky pioneers Daniel and Rebecca Boone. It was neat to bring a sense of reality to an otherwise seemingly fictitious, larger than life character.  The grave site is in a very scenic locale as it is overlooking the Kentucky River with a great view of the state capitol.

 

Our last stop of our tour of Frankfort was the Buffalo Trace Distillery or most notably known as the former George T. Stagg Distillery and the O.F.C. Distillery. They are the makers of Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey and this distillery claims it is the oldest continuously operating distillery in the United States. Originating in 1795 it was one of only 4 distilleries allowed by permit to distill during Prohibition.  Bourbon at that time was available by prescription from a medical doctor who could prescribe a bottle a week for "medicinal purpose". Our tour guide joked that often several family members would all visit the doctor at one time for these prescriptions so during Prohibition the family doctor was their very best friend.

Buffalo Trace Distillery tours are free and we very much enjoyed the old historic buildings onsite. This is a very popular tour as the group in front of ours and our group had 42 visitors!  At the end of the  tour we were allowed three tastings and samples of their really decadent and delicious chocolate pecan bourbon balls.  So impressed were we by their chocolate cream desert liqueur, Sharon had to bring a bottle home to savor in honor of our both turning 60 this year!

Bardstown KY and Hiking at Bernheim Arboretum…

The Old Kentucky Home State Park is a great little spot from which to investigate this part of Kentucky. Nestled in the town of Bardstown, KY and home to Federal Hill (built in 1812) which was the inspiration for Stephen Foster's ballad, "My Old Kentucky Home." There are 39 sites with electricity and water hookups, no sewer, and weak WIFI. There's also a restroom and shower house (somewhat dated)  Most sites are not level but are manageable. The park also is where “The Stephen Foster Story,” a Broadway-style musical is performed onstage within the State Park.

Bardstown is known as the Bourbon Capital of the World. Settled in 1780. it is Kentucky’s second oldest city and was once listed as the Most Beautiful Small Town in America. The downtown town hub is a collection of small shops, businesses, historical buildings and restaurants. We strolled around the town looking at all the architecture with some buildings  predating the 1800’s. Seeing these structures built  in the 1790’s and still standing is a testament to the craftsmanship in those days.

One such building is the Old Talbott Tavern  built in 1779. It was once a Western Stagecoach stop and the hotel had the likes of Abraham Lincoln, General Patton, Jesse James and countless others who stayed and slept in this very cool building. They have a restaurant and a bar on premises and we even had happy hour one evening at the bar. It is neat to be imbibing in such an old and historic structure. The restaurant is know for the Kentucky staple called the Kentucky Hot Brown. It is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown.

Also near Bardstown is the the Barton 1792 Distillery and Visitor Center. We are not huge bourbon fans but have had fun visiting some of the distilleries in both Kentucky and Tennessee.Our tour guide was very passionate about bourbon so it was a very entertaining tour. She informed us that at any given time, Kentucky has more barrels of bourbon aging than people living in the state! Amazing!

Another fun thing to do near town is to make the 15 to 20 minute drive over to the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. There is a $5 per vehicle charge on weekends and holidays but during the week there is free admission to the park. This arboretum is comprised of a 14,378-acre forest preserve, complete with a nature center, picnic areas, 38 miles of hiking trails and lakes as well as a short but nifty canopy tree walk.

We did a lot of short hikes and loop trails while visiting the park. There are some really nice stands of ancient timber found in the park along with quite a diversity of plants. The trails were a bit muddy and could use a little maintence but we had a great time visiting this park. Just as we were about to leave the park we had a an encounter with a snake. As I was driving away from one of the trails I noticed a large, and I do mean very large, Timber Rattlesnake crossing the edge of the parking lot.

This rattlesnake was about 5 feet in length and the girth of the snake was as big around as a small cantaloupe. The snake was moving along very slowly as is typical for this species' somewhat passive nature. It appeared to us as though the snake had recently consumed a large mammal such as a rabbit due to its mid-section girth. Nevertheless this was an impressive snake and we were certainly glad we didn’t encounter it on the trail as I am sure one or both of us would had to have changed shorts shortly afterward! Ahhhh, just another exciting day on the road of retirement…

More Fun in Bowling Green, KY…

In and around Bowling Green, Kentucky there has been a lot of spotty thundershowers  and as a result there have been a lot of flash flood watches. We aren’t too concerned here at Barren Tailwater COE park as we are below the dam of the lake. However, I have heard the siren go off a few times which is a signal that they are letting a higher volume of water out. The river we see out our front window is pretty much full and above flood stage but it is being controlled so again no worries for us.

What has been a challenge is to find things to do between  rain showers. One afternoon we drove around the countryside and checked out all the small communities near us. The rolling hills here in southern Kentucky are lush and green with all this rain. We did find a small Mennonite community where we stumbled upon a small Mennonite store where the locals bring what they can spare to sell for the general good of the community. We scored some great produce and a jar of raspberry jam….I am sure looking forward to eating it!

Another day the rain let up some so we drove back over to Bowling Green to the Aviation Heritage Park. There are several planes and jets on display there but we decided to play their disc golf course first. There are 8 disc golf courses in this area! We played about 14 holes when a thunder rumble warned us we had better hurry. Try as we might we didn't quite make it and got rained upon but had fun anyway. We decided against stopping to take pictures of the planes due to the rain so we looked for something to do indoors.

Next up we decided to tour the Corsair Artisan Distillery. Every hour on the hour tours are offered and we made it just in time for the last tour of the day at 4:00 pm. It was five bucks for the informative tour of the small scale distiller and included 4 samples each at the end. This artisan distillery distills vodka, rum, gin and whiskey.  It is so small that it still corks and labels each and every bottle by hand. Sharon especially liked their logo and the story is that one of the owners was "researching" distilleries in Ireland where he snapped  a photo of three men headed to a pub just after work.  A graphic artist turned the photo into their logo and Sharon liked it so much we purchased a glass after the tour. It was a nice tour and some of the samples were pretty interesting.

Sharon tried their vanilla bean vodka, spiced rum, and oatmeal stout whiskey .They had a gin that was barrel aged in a spiced rum barrel which was very good. I also tried their most popular triple smoked single barrel whiskey. Another interesting artisan product was their hopped whiskeys where they use hops in the process giving the whiskey a hoppy smell but not too much of a hoppy taste. Lastly we both tried their Red Absinthe which was an interesting blend with a distinctive licorice flavor…

After the tour I drove us over to the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. Why? Well I read on the internet that there was a Bluegrass Jam held there every Thursday night beginning at 5:30pm and was free to the public with donations accepted at the door. Well we didn’t arrive until after 6:00 pm  and although we saw a staged area, no one was playing. We sat down and then noticed there was a spread of food laid out.  We then heard it announced to everyone to come get a plate. We made a donation, got some food and sat down wondering when the music would start. Before long several of the locals came by to greet us and introduce themselves.  They were happy to see us but all wondered how we found this place!

The music didn’t start until closer to 7:00 pm but we had a great time listening some some good local musicians.  We really enjoyed the fiddles, banjos and all the other instruments that came together for some good bluegrass music at this most welcoming place…

More Distilleries and Miss Mary Bobo’s…

Wow what a fun few days we had visiting friends Charles and Sandy in Middle Tennessee! Our last day there was as great as our first two. Sandy had a prior commitment early that day so Charles came over to take us to another tour of a distillery. This time we toured Charles Dickel and although they weren’t in production the lady who guided the tour was very informative.

The distillery is located in a sleepy little town called Cascade Hollow and originated in the mid 1800’s. Charles Dickel  grew the distillery into Tennessee's largest distillery but then came prohibition in 1919 and it was forced to close.After nearly forty years in 1958, Master Distiller Ralph Dupps rebuilt the distillery.and since then no one has had to be without George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.

After the tour Charles had a treat in store for us by taking us to Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House and Restaurant which is a well known southern food establishment. This restored  historic boarding house serves up classic southern cuisine and is all you can eat served family style.  We were assigned a dining room and when the bell rang we were escorted to our room by a hostess. What a cozy room it was featuring the original fireplace and mantle. The table in our room seated 12 so we were sitting with strangers but that is what family style is all about.

Our hostess had us each introduce ourselves so soon we were no longer strangers. Then she told us a bit about the history of the boarding house and about the local area as well. The restaurant is owned by Jack Daniels Distillery which is also located in the town of Lynchburg (which is interestingly a dry town). She then explained our servers were awarded two years fully paid college and in return worked at the restaurant during the summer and college breaks. She had one of the servers introduce himself and he told us he planned to receive a business degree so he could hopefully return to this town and work for Jack Daniels distillery!

The food appeared and was placed on a giant lazy-susan in the middle of the table.  Everyone was instructed to simply rotate and spoon out their foods of choice. Today’s menu included fried chicken, meat loaf, okra, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, black eyed peas, corn bread and coleslaw. They also served some fabulous apples stewed in, you guessed it, Jack Daniels! After lunch our servers brought out our dessert which was a chocolate brownie pie topped with Jack Daniel's special whipped cream.

We noticed they even have an RV park, a small city park, right behind Miss Mary Bobo's which has electric and water hookups (no sewer). It is walking distance to the Lynchburg town square and  to the Jack Daniel's distillery as well as the restaurant. 

After lunch we toured the nearby Jack Daniel's distillery and unfortunately a thunderstorm was rolling through the area so the tour guide couldn’t allow us to exit the bus somewhat diminishing our experience. But after that wonderful lunch we really didn’t care. especially since the tour guide was very entertaining.

Wow our time  visiting Charles and Sandy's beautiful farm went by fast and we had such wonderful hosts. However, it was indeed time to move on. We planned to leave bright and early as I had my first ever VA hospital appointment in Murfreesboro, TN and then after the appointment we plan to travel to just south of Lebanon, Tennessee…

The Rolling Hills of Tennessee…

This past Monday we left Heritage Acres RV park in Tuscumbia Alabama and headed on down the road a bit further northeast into the state of Tennessee. After just a few miles, we pulled into a Love’s for diesel. I have never really understood why Love’s and Pilots charge 5 to 10 cents more for their diesel but they always seem to. There was a particularly friendly attendant at this stop so Sharon asked how we fill up at the pump rather than her going inside to pay.  The attendant explained when we swipe our loyalty card a prompt will ask our truck number and she said type 1 or 0 then when it asks for company name type private. This was a productive stop as we learned something new there!

Moving on down state road 43, our destination was a quaint farm in the rolling hills of Tennessee near the town of  Lewisburg. We would be staying for three days at a friend’s farm. Our friends met us at a truck stop near the farm to guide us through some narrow roads and turned  us into their farm where we nestled our RV up beside their red Borden Barn which was built in the 1930’s. What a nice spread they have in this very green part of the state!

We hit the ground rolling as our hosts, Charles and Sandy,  had plenty of sights in store for us. Our first stop was to a small mom and pop distillery called Prichard’s Distillery. What a cool tour we had through this building that was once a school and now a distillery. What made it even more fun was we were joined by about 8 school teachers enjoying a kayaking trip. Since one of our friends was a former principal this made for some fun banter as we strolled through the school now turned distillery. We ended the tour with some mighty fine sampling and we ended up with a bottle of the Sweet Lucy sipping whiskey. There were some funny T-shirts about this whiskey so I had to enclose one picture of one of them.

Later that day we drove around the farm on a four wheeler. We saw a lot of birds and a deer and what a beautiful spread they have here in the rolling hills. Sharon calls it a little piece of heaven.  That evening we enjoyed drinks, dinner  and great conversations catching up as the way RV’er simply do… Charles started a fire and we sat around talking through the wee hours and before we knew it the time was past midnight! What fun!

The next day we headed over to Franklin. Tennessee but first we stopped in at Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse and Bakery. What a cool little place to enjoy a great breakfast and if you go here you must get one of their cinnamon rolls! Lots of pictures of country and western artists line these wall and many of them have eaten here before we did. After breakfast we walked around the trendy little town square in Franklin taking in the history. Sharon and Sandy would dip into and out of some of the stores checking out the wares. There was some great art in some of these stores. The day ended back in town where we stopped in for a pizza and beer at a fun little hole in the wall sports bar. Yep, another super fun day…