On our trips we like to see state capitol buildings if they are not too far out of the way. On this trip we were going through Kentucky and it wasn't far to jog over to Frankfort. Beth had called weeks ago to arrange for a tour of both the capitol building and the governor's mansion.
We stayed in Elkhorn Creek RV park, surrounded by wonderful rolling hills and black wooden fences. This is very much horse country. Here we are after touring the governor's mansion, with the capitol building in the background. Very impressive.
The current governor's mansion was built about 100 years ago. This is about their third one. Lots of French influences. It looks like a miniature Versailles! In fact, it is modeled after Marie Antoinette's small chateau that is on the grounds of Versailles.
We were able to tour the entire first floor. The governor's private rooms are on the second floor. The building had fallen into a pretty bad state but a former first lady who happened to be Miss America (who remembers Phyllis George?) lead the effort to spruce it up. It really looked fabulous.
The capital building was surprisingly open in these post-911 days. We signed in and could have wandered around at will, but chose to have a guided tour. In the rotunda area there is a large statue of Lincoln. There was also a statue of Jefferson Davis. Both were born in Kentucky.
After the capitol tour we went to a local candy shop that is famous for its "bourbon colonels" - Rebecca Ruth's. We didn't get a tour but Matthew really enjoyed the shop!
We had lunch in a little spot called the "White Light Diner." This place was in an episode of "Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives." Matthew played it safe with a bacon burger. Beth went for a Cuban sandwich. Bill went native with a catfish po-boy and cheese grits. Yummy!
We had not known in advance that this part of the state is known as "bourbon country." There are a number of local distilleries and we felt we owed it to ourselves and to Kentucky culture to take a tour. We went to Buffalo Trace distillery. The distillery is in the National Registry of Historic Places. They claim to be America's oldest continuously operated (even during prohibition) distillery, dating back to 1870. The tour was fascinating (but a little long for Matthew). The color of bourbon comes from the charred oak barrels where it is stored for anywhere from 4 to 20 years. They had many buildings on the property that were doing nothing but holding barrels! The guide said the aging process depends on temperature and things are different on every floor!
Ah, the best part of the tour - sampling the goods! Strong stuff...
And another place we drove by on the way back to the RV park. Pity, not enough time for another tour.
On the whole, we were really impressed with Frankfort. There were cute art galleries and lots of other historic things to see. We were sorry to only have one day to stay there!
Notes from Matthew: When in Rome do as the Romans
- Go see Rebecca Ruth's candy shop. It is delicious!
- White Lite Diner may not have a large space or look pretty, but it has great food!
- Buffalo Trace is cool but the tours are two or more hours long. Keep that in mind.
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