While plying the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, we did a double take when we thought, for a moment, we were in Versailles France. It turned out that we actually were in Versailles, but it was Versailles Kentucky. This truly authentic castle was the personal home of the Thomas R. Post family, up until the time they turned it into a luxury bed and breakfast destination. Apparently, a Lexington contractor began building the castle in 1969, but hadn’t completed it when he died. After sitting vacant for 30 years, Post bought it and began finishing what was needed to open it as a luxury hotel. It looks like a fun place to stay if you every find yourself in Lexington with a need for a bed for the night.
We visited the Old Friends shelter for thoroughbreds at Dream Chase Farms. Apparently when these beautiful beasts are no longer making money at stud fees, it is common for the owners to sell them to other countries where horse meat is considered an expensive luxury, like Japan for example. To prevent that from always being their fate, in 2003 Michael Blowen, a former Boston Globe film critic, became the founder of a home for retired thoroughbreds. Through the foundation’s efforts in fundraising and getting the word out, more than 150 magnificent horses are living out their final years in comfort and happiness. During our tour of the facilities, we got to interact (and feed carrots which were truly appreciated) to most of the residents.
When the thoroughbreds (generally live around 30 years if cared for) pass on here, they are buried on the grounds. The thoroughbred cemetery contains the remains of many race winners, the highest earnings of which ran into the mid-$3 million range. Also, the moms and dads of many very famous horses dot the headstones here. We had a great time taking in this gem near Lexington.
We also learned there that highly valuable racing animals are tracked, with a serial number of sorts not unlike a car. With greyhounds that race, a unique ID number is imprinted into their ear. That way the hound can always be tracked and his or her identity verified with precision. Thoroughbred horses are no different. The difference is that their ID number is tattooed, of all places, on their upper gums inside their mouth. Well, Game on Dude loved to show off his tattoo – when the docent would ask Game on Dude “Where is your tattoo?” the horse would raise up his upper lip and bear his gums for all to see!
We discovered the Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown Kentucky. Built in 1779, it was intended to serve as an Inn to help stimulate growth and permanency of the blossoming business community there. The Old Talbott Tavern is the oldest continuously operating Inn on the same location, in the same building in the entire US. Because of this, its walls have witnessed a stunning array of historic personages, right out of the pages of history.
It turns out that the famous American author/essayist Washington Irving was one of those personages. In 1802 he stayed at the Old Talbott Tavern. During his breakfast, he noticed a young girl seated near the window, and he thought her so beautiful – like nothing he had witnessed since leaving Richmond. He was so taken that he decided that he absolutely needed a kiss from this lovely woman, not knowing she was the daughter of the Tavern owner. Since her back was to him, he quietly walked to her and she did not hear his approach. When he tapped her chair, she turned, and as he said in his essay “I snatched as sweet a kiss as ever was stolen”, and having vanished in a twinkling, “the next moment I was on horseback, galloping, my very ears tingling at what I had done.”
There were two things I needed to try, and tried them both I did. First, the Tavern is a sponsor for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, so their bourbon list takes up an entire page. I tried two of the nicer bourbons that I had not had the privilege of tasting while we were at the distillery. The other was fried green tomatoes. Kentucky is where that delicacy comes from, and while there is a dipping in batter – i.e. carbohydrates which are on my “No” list – I still had to try them. After all, I think the historical significance of the Tavern trumps the carbs.
Not far outside Bardstown we found the late 1700’s era home of Mordecai Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s uncle. While it was not open for touring, I still wanted to see it because of the linkage created with Andrew Johnson. If you recall, Andrew Johnson hung with Mordecai and his crowd in Greenville Tennessee, and that ended up being his earliest introduction to the man he would succeed, unhappily, as President, so I couldn’t pass this up.
Only a mile or so from Mordecai’s home, we encountered our first tobacco field. Apparently it is not unusual to find tobacco growing in the Tennessee and Kentucky, but this is the first field we saw. The next we saw the plants already harvested and hanging upside down from racks in the field. I learned from some of my stoner buddies in college that you hang plants that you eventually want to smoke upside down so that the good sh_t, whatever it is, makes its way down into the leaves. In the case of tobacco, is the good sh_t the nicotine?
We ventured the 7 extra miles to find the Zion Bridge, one of only 13 remaining covered bridges in the state of Kentucky. While it has historical significance – it was built in 1865, it is the longest covered bridge span in Kentucky at 211 feet, it is made of yellow pine, and contains a Burr Arch Truss – it is quite a mess as it is out the boonies, and with no surveillance, completely covered in unpleasant graffiti. A Burr Arch Truss is a great arch of wood sandwiched in between two king posts, and is named for Theodore Burr who patented the design in 1804. It was till worth the 10 minutes!
We drove by the Federal Repository in Fort Knox Kentucky. While the Federal Gold Repository is on the Fort Knox Army Base and not open to visitors, I just wanted to see it as long as we were in the area. Just seeing the facility from a distance confirmed to me that what I saw some 5 decades ago in the James Bond, Ian Fleming thriller Goldfinger, was the real deal. Now if only I could bump into Odd Job ……
Time to start making our way back to western Kentucky.
Talk to you soon!
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