The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide - The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2023
Northern Kentucky River
2022-12-22 12:29:27
Good times roll along the Ohio River at the confluence of history, colorful characters and bourbon. Begin with The B-Line, Northern Kentucky’s own bourbon experience featuring stops across distilleries, bars and restaurants.
American Legacy’s Newport Gangster Tour takes to the former mean streets of “Sin City’s” gambling and bootlegging heyday. Bridgeview Box Park at Newport on the Levee vibes as an open-air shipping container park with curated food, a local artisan market and more. You’ll catch plenty of oohs and aahs at Newport Aquarium with its immersive Coral Reef Tunnel, Penguin Palooza and Gator Alley.
Within Covington’s Devou Park, the Behringer-Crawford Museum is hands-on play with a transportation theme featuring model trains and a paddlewheel riverboat. Williamstown supersizes the boat theme to biblical proportions with its Ark Encounter, where Noah and company hold court on three decks.
Burlington’s Dinsmore Homestead shares a slice of mid-19th century rural farming life through family diaries and tombstones. The artistry of one of the world’s most beloved singers comes to life at Augusta’s Rosemary Clooney House through personal memorabilia and the largest collection of “White Christmas” props from the movie.
Camp beneath the stars in a woodland setting and cast a line at Kincaid Lake State Park. Place your bets at Turfway Park in Florence, whose thoroughbred racing history stretches back to 1883.
Fine art miniatures have their moment at Maysville’s Kentucky Gateway Museum Center through tiny room boxes and houses filled with even tinier furnishings, tools and toys. And the region’s German heritage is on full display at Covington’s Mainstrasse Village, from the glockenspiel to Goose Girl Fountain.
REGIONAL ART HIGHLIGHTS
With each brushstroke, the history of Covington comes alive in magnificent color and detail across the floodwall’s 18 Roebling Murals. Quirky public art abounds with guided walks from NKY Art Tours featuring colorful murals, mosaics and more, plus you’ll find notable historical figures along the Riverside Drive Statue Tour.
“Put yourself in the picture,” invites local artist Stephanie Martinez’s murals, designed to spark Instagrammable moments, beautify the historic downtown and continue the story begun with Maysville’s Floodwall Murals. Grab the balloons. Stop and smell the flowers.
Color washes over levee gatewells linking the towns of the Licking River Greenway and Trails – from Covington to Taylor Mill, Wilder and Newport – creating an urban trail where art and nature play beautifully together.
The country’s second-most photographed covered bridge is found in Fleming County, along with two others, each a study of folk beauty and 19th-century craftsmanship.
Carrollton rocks the arts in September with Bands & BBQ at Point Park, a two-day food and fun fest featuring a juried Handcraft and Homespun Market.
REGIONAL ITINERARY
DAY 1
1 Historic Fairfield Avenue District, Bellevue
Hoist a stein at the Hofbrauhaus Newport, where every day is Oktoberfest, on the way to shop-hopping along Bellevue’s bustling Fairfield Avenue. Boutiques, art galleries, bars, bistros and a brewery line the avenue of this bustling charmer that also hosts Friday food trucks and pop-up shops.
2 Rabbit Hash General Store, Rabbit Hash
Follow the twisty roads into Americana, where artisan- made brooms, pottery, soaps and more line the shelves of this old-timey gathering place perched on the banks of the Ohio River. You might even spot the town’s canine mayor snoozing on the porch.
3 Big Bone Lick State Park, Union
Kentucky’s prehistoric past lives here among the bison herd, diorama pit and museum exhibits about Ice Age mammals, Native American history and Ordovician geology at the spot known as the “Birthplace of American Vertebrate Paleontology.”
DAY 2
4 General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton
Fishing, hiking, paddle boating, playing miniature golf, taking part in programs with the park naturalist, sharing a farm-fresh meal – just add family. And closing the day? A spectacular view of the sun setting over the Ohio River from the overlook.
5 Kincaid Lake State Park, Falmouth
Cast a line, paddle a kayak, pedal a boat or motor along pretty Kincaid Lake, where a secluded campground also provides a quiet oasis to pitch a tent for the night. Take a misty morning hike the next day to soak up more natural beauty.
6 Covered Bridges, Flemingsburg
This charming small town is a big stop when it comes to covered bridges. You’ll discover three of them here, all built in the 1800s. See each antique structure up close, then explore their history in the local covered bridge museum.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Augusta/Bracken County 606-756-2183, augustaky.com
Carrollton/Carroll County 502-732-7036, visitcarrolltonky.com
Fleming County 606-845-1223, flemingkychamber.com
Gallatin County 859-380-0256, visitgallatincountyky.com
Grant County 859-824-3451, visitgrantky.com
Lewis County 606-440-0135
Maysville/Mason County 606-563-2596, visitmaysvilleky.com
Northern Kentucky/Covington/Florence/Newport 859-261-4677, meetnky.com
Owen County 502-563-5050, facebook.com/owencountykytourism
Pendleton County pendletoncountytourism.com
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