The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide - The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2023
Bluegrass, Horses, Bourbon & Boone
2022-12-22 09:57:57
While you can ride, pet and admire horses throughout the Bluegrass State, this is definitely the heart of Kentucky Horse Country. Hundreds of farms blanket pastoral countryside, museums honor all things equine and Kentucky history abounds, from the place where the state began to its capital today.
Take a Kentucky journey at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, a trip that bumps along from ancient times and frontier life to bourbon and baseball bats. Follow African American soldiers through their story of recruitment and training at Camp Nelson National Monument in Nicholasville, also a refugee camp for their wives and children.
Pompeii in Kentucky? Yes, ruins of the historic O.F.C. Distillery unearthed at Frankfort’s Buffalo Trace Distillery are featured on the Bourbon Pompeii Tour by Kentucky River Tours, the nation’s only boat-based bourbon tour. On land, the stony façades of Woodford Reserve in Versailles draw architectural aficionados, history buffs and bourbon lovers to this circa 1812 National Historic Landmark.
It’s round-the-clock crafting in Berea, Kentucky’s “Folk Arts & Crafts Capital,” with an Artisan Village, working studios, LearnShops and the Kentucky Artisan Center.
Among reasons Lexington is the “Horse Capital of the World” are Kentucky Horse Park, the everything-equine theme park featuring the Parade of Horses, museums and horseback riding, and Keeneland, where thoroughbred racing takes place at one of the country’s most gorgeous courses.
Green pastures, comfy stables and all the carrots one can eat. Retirement never looked so good. Just ask the equine residents living their best life at Georgetown’s Old Friends thoroughbred retirement farm.
REGIONAL ART HIGHLIGHTS
Murals, sculptures, mosaics and more – downtown Danville’s public art includes 16 contemporary pieces punctuated by the breathtaking, brilliantly colored glass chandelier suspended from the ceiling of the Boyle County Public Library.
More than 50 mural masterpieces create an outdoor art gallery in Lexington, celebrating storybook charm, the legendary Man o’ War, the East End’s musical heritage and Kentucky-born actor Harry Dean Stanton.
Get a sensory lift in downtown Frankfort, with a mural honoring Tony Award-winning Frankfort native George C. Wolfe, a ringing bell sound sculpture and the 100-ton Kentucky Floral Clock.
As the unofficial Horse Headquarters of Kentucky, it’s only fitting that Georgetown’s landmark mural is “Unbridled Spirit of Horse Country,” one of several yarn-spinning murals that also includes “Miss Sadie Watches Over Her Town.”
An open studio tour hosted by the architectural blacksmiths at Lawrenceburg’s Maynard Studios shows off an array of metal-forged design work – sculptures, furniture, chandeliers and more – from French classical to mid-century modern to urban contemporary.
REGIONAL ITINERARY
DAY 1
1 Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, Perryville
At one of the country’s most unaltered Civil War sites, the hushed tranquility of rolling countryside gives no hint to the exploding cannons and cries of men that took place during one of Kentucky’s bloodiest Civil War battles more than 160 years ago.
2 Great American Dollhouse Museum, Danville
Follow a timeline from Native Americans to the modern era at this singularly unique museum portraying the social history of the U.S. through miniature vignettes in more than 200 dollhouses, room boxes – even a medieval castle.
3 Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Harrodsburg
Go hands-on at this landmark destination that shares 3,000 acres of discovery in the spirit of the Kentucky Shakers: meet farm animals, add your voice to a Shaker singalong, take a firefly hike and dance at Music on the Lawn.
DAY 2
4 Holly Hill Inn, Midway
Through her flagship fine-dining restaurant, multiple James Beard Foundation nominee Ouita Michel articulates Kentucky’s culinary story – one of inspired menus based on fresh, seasonal ingredients from Kentucky farmers, paired with an award-winning wine list and bourbon library, and served up in the midst of Horse Country.
5 Horse Farm Tours, Inc., Lexington
From nursery and stud farms to equine hospitals, racetracks and feed mills. Get it straight from the horse’s mouth through experiences that share stories where it all takes place: the “Horse Capital of the World.”
6 Winchester-Clark County Beer Cheese Trail, Winchester
Treat your taste buds to this ooey-gooey concoction created 90 years ago. Enjoy 13 different tastes and 13 venues, including the steak and beer cheese omelet at Pilot View Market, perched on the path Daniel Boone blazed on his first visit to Kentucky.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Berea 859-986-2540, visitberea.com
Carlisle/Nicholas County 859-749-7986 carlisle-nicholascounty.org
Cynthiana/Harrison County 859-234-5236, cynthianatourism.com
Danville/Boyle County 859-618-6433, danvillekentucky.com
Frankfort/Franklin County 502-875-8687, visitfrankfort.com
Georgetown/Scott County 502-863-2547 georgetownky.com
Harrodsburg/Mercer County 800-355-9192 mercercountyky.com
Lawrenceburg/Anderson County 502-598-3127 visitlawrenceburgky.com
Lexington 859-233-7299 visitlex.com
Nicholasville/Wilmore 859-305-6040 visitjessamine.com
Paris/Bourbon County 859-987-8744 pariskytourism.com
Richmond 859-626-8474 richmondkytourism.com
Stanford/Lincoln County 606-365-4500 stanford-lincolncountytourism.com
Winchester/Clark County 859-744-0556 visitwinchesterky.com
Woodford County 859-214-4510 reservewoodford.com
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