We’re back from our trip to Louisville. We have never been to Kentucky, enjoyed the whole experience, and would definitely go back!
We flew into Cincinnati and rented a car to drive to the Shaker Village. We toured the Woodford distillery on the way. The drive around that area was beautiful! We enjoyed the distillery tour and the lunch on the patio. Shaker Village was a wonderful, relaxing experience. The restored village was much bigger than I thought. We arrived at 5:00 pm, checked into Farmer Deacon’s suite: three rooms on the second floor of the first permanent building built in the community. Two of the rooms were very plain and done in the Shaker style: a dining/living area and a bedroom. The third room was a very modern bathroom. We had dinner reservations for 7:00 and enjoyed the setting and food immensely. (They use fresh vegetables from their garden…the lemon pie recommended in this site had whole lemon slices cut paper thin in it….delicious!) We had planned to tour the village in the morning and leave for Bardstown for lunch the next day, but instead stayed until 4:00 walking all around the area enjoying a solo music performance of Shaker songs and hymns, history talks about Shaker life and beliefs, and craft demonstrations (textile, wood-working, broom-making).
We left Shaker village at 4:00 and just made the last tour of My Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown. Again, relaxing and totally worth the stop. For dinner we tried the Old Talbott Tavern which was built in 1779 and known as the oldest western stagecoach stop in America. The fried chicken was unbelievable, as was the Kentucky Burgoo (soup/stew with sausage & meat). We then headed to the Louisville Marriott Downtown where we stayed for four nights before returning home.
The food in Louisville was delicious! We tried the famous Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel and really enjoyed it. Uptown Café didn’t disappoint with stuffed mushroom caps that I’ll dream about forever. 21C hotel’s restaurant, Proof on Main, was a top-drawer service and food experience.
We kept busy enjoying the area. We saw a minor league baseball game (Louisville Bats) within walking distance of our hotel. (Think bottom of the 9th, two outs, home team losing 8-6, bases loaded, half the crowd had already left………can you guess what happened?) We really enjoyed the Speed Museum and riding around the University of Louisville campus.
Of course, no trip to Kentucky would be complete without some bourbon tasting. Every restaurant had at least twenty different options available. We found some interesting tastes. The Old Talbott Tavern offered five shots for $20….your choice from a selection of ~40 brands.
Thanks to all you Fodorites who helped make our trip so enjoyable!
(P.S. That’s right…..a grand slam!)