Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [160]
Half an hour further north is quaint Bardstown, “Bourbon Capital of the World.” Stay at the Old Talbott Tavern in the 18th-century brick-and-stone downtown. Each of the five rooms is named after a former guest - including Lincoln, Daniel Boone and Washington Irving. The bar downstairs has a large selection of local bourbons and is a good place to meet local distillery workers. In the morning, visit Federal Hill, the Georgian mansion that inspired Stephen Foster’s song My Old Kentucky Home. Though Bardstown’s favorite son died young and destitute, his ballad lives on as Kentucky’s state song, played before every Kentucky Derby.
An hour north is Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city. A former river port, Louisville is an unpretentious town of working-class German neighborhoods, lively college bars, and blocks and blocks of splendid Victorian rowhouses.
A block from the banks of the Ohio River in the heart of downtown is the Louisville Slugger Museum. The five-story-high baseball bat leaning against the building makes it hard to miss. Hillerich & Bradsby Co has been making the iconic bat here since 1884. The museum has a plant tour, a hall of baseball memorabilia including Babe Ruth’s slugger, a batting cage and a free mini slugger. You can buy a customized bat in the lobby.
Also downtown is the eccentric Frazier International History Museum. See gory medieval battle tableaux and live historical re-enactments throughout the day - watch a 15th-century knight don his many layers of armor or listen to Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate the morality of slavery. The Frazier’s 3rd floor contains a branch of Britain’s Royal Armories, with an astonishing collection of European weaponry and armor.
Heading south on South 3rd St, you’ll see the elegant Greek Revival-style Speed Art Museum. Kentucky’s oldest and largest art museum contains more than 12,000 works of art, from Roman burial urns to 17th-century Flemish oil portraits to Kentucky silver julep cups.
Pretend you’re a 19th-century captain of industry with a late afternoon stroll down Millionaire’s Row. South of downtown, this stretch of 3rd St runs through the heart of Old Louisville, with the largest collection of Victorian homes in the country. Sleep in the heart of the neighborhood at the Rocking Horse Manor B&B. Light pours through the stained glass into the parlor of this 1888 Romanesque mansion, where you can sip port on an antique couch before retiring to your canopy bed. Before heading out of town, snap a picture of the iconic white spires of Churchill Downs, home to the Kentucky Derby each May.
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THE CIVIL WAR IN KENTUCKY
“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky,” said Abraham Lincoln, testifying to the strategic importance of this border state during the Civil War. Literally on the border between North and South - the Ohio River marks the Mason-Dixon line - Kentucky was deeply divided between slave-holding plantation owners and secession-squeamish Union loyalists. All in all, 64,000 Kentuckians fought for the Union and 30,000 for the Confederacy. Union president Abraham Lincoln and Confederacy president Jefferson Davis were both Kentucky-born.
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Head east for about an hour and you’ll hit Frankfort, one of the smallest state capitals in America. Tucked into the steep hills along the banks of the Kentucky River, old-fashioned Frankfort’s worth a stop for lunch and a visit to the Center for Kentucky History, with its self-guided tour through the state’s history from prehistoric times through the exploration of the Cumberland Gap to the present. Take a picture in front of the nearby Greek Revival Old State Capitol, which housed the legislature from 1827 through 1910.
Roll through the heavenly hills of Kentucky’s horse country, and into Lexington, once called the “Athens of the West” for its wealth and culture. Contemporary Lexington