Our Trip to Kentucky

Here's our recent trip to Kentucky in pictures. It might sound strange, but Kentucky has a lot to offer for a vacation. As we had two days of vacation to use before July 1 lest we lose those days, we felt a short trip would be good. Otherwise, we'd be working when we could be not working but still getting paid. We left Thursday morning and returned late Sunday afternoon.

You can just skim over the itinerary below and refer back to it if you want more info about the different places we went.

1. THURSDAY, JUNE 23
• Mammoth Cave: Growing up so close, I'm surprised I'd never been here. It was saturated with Ohioans but still a very interesting place to visit since it's the longest known cave system in the world. Our guide on the Historic Tour was heavily bearded and very dramatic. Although the main attraction is underground, it's still a large, beautiful national park above ground.
• Zappos.com Outlet: not pictured, but a great stop if you're a Zappos fan, south of Louisville.
• Jim Beam American Outpost (also not pictured): We picked up our Bourbon Trail passports here and got them stamped, but we were an hour late for tours or tastings. Not a huge loss, in my opinion.
• The Chapeze House, Bardstown for dinner: It's run by Michael "The Colonel" Masters, who also owns the "Colonel's Cottage Inns," one of which we stayed in that night. It was a confusing place to eat, but definitely memorable. The Colonel is the consummate host (and salesman).
• The Millstone Cottage for the night: Bardstown is a very pretty, historic town. The cottage, in an historic neighborhood just 1/4 mile from the town square, was built in the 1880s and the furnishings reflected the period. It's quaint, but still sleeps four (full bed + two twin beds) and has a very large bathroom with shower and giant jacuzzi tub and a full kitchen.





2. FRIDAY, JUNE 24
• St. Joseph Proto Cathedral: Bardstown was once the only American Catholic diocese west of the Alleghenies (from Tennessee up to the Great Lakes, as the rest was foreign land).The proto-cathedral (no longer a true cathedral since the diocese is now part of the Archdiocese of Louisville) was begun in 1816 by the first (and only) Bishop of Bardstown, Benedict Joseph Flaget. Apart from this heritage, the cathedral also contains priceless works of art, donated by both Pope Leo XII and King Louis-Philippe I of France, by artists (supposedly) such as Anthony Van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens.The proto-cathedral is also a minor basilica, and Bardstown is still a titular see, so the church is most accurately called the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral. It's quite an oddity in the Bible Belt.
• Heaven Hill Distillery: Also known as the Bourbon Heritage Center, this museum/distillery is pretty much in Bardstown proper. They make Evan Williams,Elijah Craig, and other non-bourbons. We were hoping to get to tour the distillery and participate in a tasting but were on a tight schedule, so we just toured the museum and got our passports stamped.
• St. Thomas Parish: This rural church actually predates the Proto-Cathedral by a few years. The house, still standing adjacent to the church, served as the first seminary west of the Alleghenies and as Bishop Flaget's residence. The location is still very rural, surrounded by cornfields, and includes a large cemetery a few hundred yards to the west.
• Abbey of Gethsemani: Most famously known as the home of Thomas Merton who wrote his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain here at the ripe age of 31, the Abbey of Gethsemani was founded in 1848 by the Cistercians, namely the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, commonly known as the Trappists. Although no longer under a strict vow of silence, the monks here still lead a very austere and simple life, only leaving the grounds for emergencies. We were present for the Sext prayer with the monks, which was a simple service of three chanted consecutive psalms.
• Maker's Mark distillery: This is in the middle of nowhere outside of the non-town of Loretto, but it was our favorite distillery.
• Perryville Battlefield: I'm a Civil War buff but unfortunately didn't do my research before visiting the battlefield. All I know is that Braxton Bragg fled Shiloh, then fled Corinth, then made his way down through Mississippi, then Alabama, then up through Tennessee to Kentucky. Although Perryville was a nominal Confederate victory, it ended up being a Union strategic victory. We closed down the visitor's center and attempted a driving tour, which wasn't much more than a rutted gravel road across private farmland, complete with tractors laying hay. We still got pictures with cannons, which is the only real requirement for Civil War battlefield tours anyway.
• The Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg: This is an 1845 mansion that was originally constructed as a girls' boarding school. My great-great-great grandmother Susan Frances Weatherford (Miss Sue) went here around the time of the Civil War. Her brother Pulaski climbed a tree when he was five and refused to come down until everyone promised to call him "Caesar." They did and the name stuck. He later fought for the Confederacy, and another brother fought for the Union. Caesar was captured but escaped. Anyway, the Beaumont Inn is beautiful inside and out, and the food was great.


3. SATURDAY, JUNE 25
• Old Fort Harrod: This was the earliest settlement west of the Alleghenies (1775). The reconstructed fort is near the site of the original. It has examples of frontier life, complete with historical interpreters.
• Four Roses Distillery: This is a few miles north of Harrosburg, outside of Lawrenceburg. It's a small operation and the tour was quick. Of the three distilleries we actually toured, they were the most generous with samples. It's a pretty good bourbon for the price, too.
• Woodford Reserve Distillery: This is in beautiful horse country just south of Frankfort. They're the only stop on the bourbon trail that charges ($5), but it was worth it, as it's the best all-round bourbon on the trail.
• Wild Turkey Distillery: This was definitely the most dramatic approach to a distillery on the trail (pics below). But we were tired and didn't want to wait an hour for the next tour.We already had a fairly good idea of how bourbon is made.
• Shaker Village: We didn't intend on stopping here, but it was kind of on the way out of the Harrosburg area, so we stopped.
• Richmond: We only stayed here because they used the fewest of my Hilton Honors points for a free night. Still a nice little town, and home to Eastern Kentucky University.


4. SUNDAY, JUNE 26
• Berea: We didn't know about this town until we got to Richmond. It's just a few miles south. It's home to Berea College, which specializes in crafts. All students get 100% scholarships but all participate in work study. We visited the Kentucky Artisan Center, half art gallery/half gift shop. Very neat.
• Rugby, Tennessee: If you were following our trip on a map, you'd notice that we did a big loop, and re-entered Tennessee to the east. Rugby was a 19th century settlement that was modeled to be a sort of utopia. It failed as a utopia, obviously, but the buildings were preserved.

Baby deer that we saw right when we pulled up at the Mammoth Cave visitors' center. Its mother was with it (out of frame to the right).

Our dramatic cave guide. It was a very hot day, but it was very cool here, even outside the cave.

100+ year old graffiti on the
ceiling of Mammoth Cave. The cave was pretty awesome, but as you can imagine, it's kind of hard to get good photos in a cave.

The old Bardstown Courthouse on the square, seen from a distance

The Millstone Cottage. Very nice place to stay, in a very quiet historic neighborhood. It has a nice front porch and a great backyard. The inside is also nice, and they leave a B&B-type breakfast for you in the fridge.

We chose a basic tasting for Liza and "The Colonel's Choice" for me. They were expensive but generous pours. When in Bardstown...

The Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral

Bishop Flaget himself. I think he used to have fingers and a crozier. His vestment features a Holy Sprit dove, so the real bird on his mitre is appropriate.

They had a beautiful rose garden outside the church. Liza was unable to get any information if these were historical cuttings.

The altar of St. Joseph's

The flaying of St. Bartholomew, attributed to Peter Paul Rubens. Even if it's not, this was still the most masterfully-executed painting in the church and reminds me of Caravaggio.

the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The old chapel of the St. Joseph Seminary, now part of the Bardstown History Museum

Our host at the Whiskey Museum...

We think this is the mascot of the St. Joseph School, but it was more important to us as pose-able chainsaw art.

This is a panorama of the Heaven Hill Distillery's warehouses. Whenever you approach any bourbon distillery, you see these prison-like buildings. It's cooler when you realize that they're filled with racks upon racks of wooden barrels of bourbon. Whiskey fan or not, it smells wonderful.

St. Thomas Parish, outside of Bardstown

the Bishop Flaget House and St. Thomas Seminary

St. Thomas statue at the entrance to the St. Thomas Parish cemetery

Jesus on the cross and made entirely out of metal.

The picture really doesn't do justice how beautiful both the setting and weather were this day.

Looking across the modern part of the cemetery, back towards the parish church (towards top right).

The chapel of Gethsemani Abbey

The grounds around the Gethsemani chapel

Gate into the cloister area, between the parking lots and the chapel

St. Robert of Molesme, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order

View from the parking lot area towards the chapel

Good view of St. Joseph's hill and the hill across the highway

View across the highway (hidden in foreground)

A stitched panorama of the abbey and surrounding grounds from St. Joseph's hill

Statue of St. Joseph with the Christ child on St. Joseph's hill (don't know if the hill is actually called this, but I don't see why not)

The Country Tavern in St. Francis (we just happened to pull in here to turn around and get photos of St. Francis Parish). It's not much of a town at all, so the church is probably the whole town.

St. Francis Parish, St. Francis, KY

Maker's Mark entrance with See Rock City barn (231.5 miles away, via Gravel Switch, KY)

The fermenters in Maker's Mark Distillery. They let us stick our fingers to taste the fermenting whiskey. It's really more like a sour beer at this point.

the copper stills (part of the apparatus, at least) at Maker's Mark

The covered bridge over "Whiskey Creek" at Maker's Mark

"Whiskey Creek" itself. I think they might still use this water.

the home of one of the founders of Maker's Mark

View back towards the covered bridge. The building on the right is where they used to sell whiskey to the locals before it was Maker's Mark.

Don't know the significance of this fire engine, but it looked neat.

You can dip your own bottle in the hot wax! (before)

(after)

Another beautiful church we stumbled upon, on the road to Harrodsburg from Loretto/Maker's Mark. This is St. Augustine's Parish in Lebanon, KY.

The altar of St. Augustine's. It was a Friday afternoon and nobody was around, but it was open, so we went in.

stained glass in St. Augustine's

Confederate memorial near the Perryville battlefield visitor's center.

Union memorial near the visitor's center

Perryville Battlefield

The obligatory cannon posing shot, #1.

The obligatory looking-down-the-barrel cannon shot.

The obligatory cannon posing shot, #2.

Pretty countryside outside of the battlefield park

Our bed in the Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg.

Old Beaumont Inn placard

door tag in the Beaumont

Memorial to pioneers, outside of Old Fort Harrod

Liza posing with the sheep inside Old Fort Harrod

memorial to the first settlers of Kentucky

The pioneer cemetery (the only original feature of the Fort)

The Four Roses Distillery. Very interesting California mission-style architecture in rural Kentucky.

Hanging whiskey barrel rose plants at Four Roses.

The Woodford Reserve visitor's center

View from the visitor's center towards the Woodford Reserve still house and warehouse.

A view of the "barrel run" leading from the still house to the warehouse. They still use it when they're in production.

Me, outside the still house. Notice the millstone built into the wall.

The three huge copper stills in Woodford.

Barrels in the warehouse.

Artsy closeup of one of the barrels. Notice the date stamp. The older ones have been there since 2003.

Bugs saw this and sang, "Distillery caaaaat, distillery caaaaat... why am I not eating youuuuu..."

One of the many interesting horse statues at Woodford. The country surrounding the distillery is big time horse country.

A really pretty Baptist church near Woodford.

High railroad trestle from the bridge crossing the Kentucky River, approaching Wild Turkey.

The dramatic approach to Wild Turkey.

Wild Turkey. There was a tour leaving when we got there but it was full. Rather than wait an hour with the Ohioans, we just got some pics and left.

Although I didn't have any Wild Turkey, that didn't mean I couldn't act like I had. Notice the approaching tour group in the distance and the old man sitting behind the turkey.

When we returned to Harrodsburg late that afternoon, we stumbled upon a book and art fair. Quite a collection of rural Kentucky eccentrics.

The view down Main Street at the book and art fair.

Shakertown, east of Harrosburg. It's a very well preserved Shaker settlement but we got there too late for a tour. But we got to pet the sheep! You can never pet too many sheep in one day.

Sheep and goats, Shakertown.

Herrington Lake, between Harrodsburg and Richmond. There wasn't much to see in Richmond, where we stayed that night, so there's a big gap here until the following afternoon.

The Harrow Road Cafe in Rugby, TN where we ate lunch.

Not sure what this building is, but it's a typical Rugby house.

The old Episcopal Church (still in operation) in Rugby.

One of the many barn/house-side quilt squares. Apparently they're playing up Tennessee/Kentucky/Ohio as a big quilting trail, so these were everywhere. The squares were neat to see everywhere, but I coulnd't imagine anything more dull: a quilting vacation.

My lunch at the Harrow Road Cafe. It's a Welsh Rarebit. A sort of hollandaise/cheese saunce, bacon, and onion, on two halves of English muffin. VERY good.