1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (54 page)

W
HERE
: 25 miles southwest of Lexington; 3501 Lexington Rd. Tel 800-734-5611 or 859-734-5411;
www.shakervillageky.org
.
I
NN
A
T
P
LEASANT
H
ILL
:
Cost:
from $85; dinner $25.
B
EST TIME:
early Aug for the Pleasant Hill Craft Fair.

America’s Largest Inland Peninsula and “Quilt City, U.S.A.”

Kentucky

The largest inland peninsula in the U.S., the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a vast, unspoiled treasure of 170,000 wooded acres and 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline. LBL runs from Grand Rivers, Kentucky
, in the north, to just beyond the Tennessee border in the south. A scenic 40-mile two-lane paved road known as the Trace bisects LBL.

This corner of western Kentucky boasts four rivers—the Cumberland, Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi—and the two largest man-made lakes in America: Kentucky Lake (184 miles long) and Lake Barkley (134 miles long). With 22 lake access areas, four piers, and six beaches, the area is popular with families for boating, fishing, and swimming galore.

Wildlife abounds at LBL. Bison and elk roam freely on a 700-acre restored prairie, and white-tailed deer and wild turkeys are among the more than 50 mammals and 240 bird species that call the preserve home. Bald eagles were successfully introduced to the area in the 1980s, and LBL offers tours of nesting sites each January. Educational interpretive programs take place at the Woodlands Nature Station, where owls, coyotes, and red wolves can be spotted.

Mountain biking trails are abundant here, and Kentucky Lake’s Turkey Bay is the nation’s first federally designated area for all-terrain vehicles, offering more than 100 miles of wooded trails. In addition to backcountry camping, LBL has nearly 1,000 developed campsites in four campgrounds. At Wranglers Riding Stables, an equestrian campground with 100 miles of horse and wagon trails, LBL visitors are permitted to camp with their own horses. If you’ve left your mount at home, guided horseback rides are also available.

Founded in 1827 by Lewis and Clark, nearby Paducah is known as “Quilt City, U.S.A.” The town sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers and is distinctive for its late 19th-century architecture and Museum of the American Quilter’s Society. Each April,
the museum hosts the National Quilt Show, where you may not be able to buy the works of art displayed, but you can sign up for classes and workshops in an attempt to make some yourself. In late July, Paducah stages a Summer Festival, where the most popular event may be the fiercely competitive lawn-mower races, with hot-air balloons and fireworks, too.

L
AND
B
ETWEEN
T
HE
L
AKES
: from 200 miles southwest of Louisville to 90 miles northwest of Nashville, TN.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-LBL-7077 or 270-924-2000;
www.lbl.org
.
W
RANGLERS
R
IDING
S
TABLES
: Tel 270-924-2211;
www.wranglersridingstables.com
.
P
ADUCAH
:
Visitor info:
Tel 800-PADUCAH or 270-443-8784;
www.paducah-tourism.org
.
M
USEUM OF THE
A
MERICAN
Q
UILTER’S
S
OCIETY
: Paducah. Tel 270-442-8856;
www.quiltmuseum.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: in Paducah, Apr for the National Quilt Show and July for Summer Festival; winter for eagle watching at LBL.

Horse Heaven

Lexington, Kentucky

Central Kentucky’s bluegrass country is one of America’s most genteel and elegant landscapes, spread over 15 counties and 4,000 square miles of Tara-style manor houses and classic oak plank fences. It is also
the undisputed international center of Thoroughbred horse breeding. Horses live better here than most aristocracy, in cupolatopped barns and handsome stables with hand-forged gates, stained-glass windows, and impeccable housekeeping.

Two of America’s most scenic byways, the Old Frankfort Pike and the Paris Pike, meander through the region under canopies of century-old trees and past more than 400 farms, their jade fields dotted with mares and foals. Many of the grandest farms are home to past Derby winners (semiretired four-legged gold mines now employed as fabulously well-paid studs), but most are not open for behind-the-scenes visits.

The many horse breeding and training ranches in Lexington have produced numerous Derby and Triple Crown racers.

North of Lexington, the 1,200-acre Kentucky Horse Park is a horse-lover’s dream. Its extensive International Museum of the Horse traces the evolution and history of horses to 50 million years ago, while the American Saddlebred Museum displays trophies, photographs, and videos of this popular breed. As an equine competition venue, the park hosts scores of annual events, including the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event (held in late April), showcasing Olympic hopefuls vying for the U.S. Equestrian Team. For two weeks in the fall of 2010, Kentucky Horse Park will host the prestigious Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) Games—the World Equestrian Championships. More than 400,000 people are expected to attend the competition, held every four years and never before outside Europe.

Although Louisville’s Churchill Downs may be the site of the storied Kentucky Derby (see p. 413), the Keeneland Race Course in Lexington is the South’s most beautiful track, with its elegant limestone grandstands and tree-shaded setting near some of the region’s most impressive horse farms. Show up in time to watch workout sessions from dawn to 10
A.M
., and follow up with breakfast and gossip at the Track Kitchen, a Keeneland tradition.

W
HERE
: 75 miles east of Louisville.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-845-3959 or 859-233-7299;
www.visitlex.com
.
K
ENTUCKY
H
ORSE
P
ARK
: Tel 800-678-8813 or 859-233-4303;
www.kyhorsepark.com
.
K
EENELAND
R
ACE
C
OURSE
: Tel 800-456-3412 or 859-254-3412;
www.keeneland.com
.
When:
16 races in both Apr and Oct; auctions and special events at other times.
B
EST TIMES
: Apr and Oct for Thoroughbred racing; June for the Kentucky Horse Park’s unique Egyptian Arabian horse show (
www.pyramidsociety.org
) and for its annual Festival of the Bluegrass weekend; July and Sept for sales at Keeneland (open to the public).

A Local Son’s Old Kentucky Homes

Kentucky

“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky,” President Abraham Lincoln reportedly said during the Civil War. Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in Kentucky, where he lived until the age of seven
. Although his hardworking frontier family moved to Indiana and Illinois (see p. 500) in search of work, Kentucky remained a cherished place for Lincoln throughout his life and career as lawyer, politician, and the nation’s 16th president during the Civil War. Kentucky was divided during the war between the North and the South, and Lincoln believed his home state would be critical to ending the conflict.

There is no better time to visit Lincoln’s Kentucky, as the state gears up for the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, a two-year-long celebration (that will also be observed nationally) beginning February 12, 2008, and featuring exhibitions and events at more than 50 historic sites in 19 counties. It will commemorate the birth and extraordinary life of the great American leader who emancipated slaves and preserved the once-fractured Union.

In LaRue County, about 45 miles south of Louisville, Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historic Site houses an early 19th-century log cabin representing the one in which Lincoln was born. Young Abe lived here with his family on this 348-acre farm, known as Sinking Spring, until he was about 2½ years old. A national monument since its dedication in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the grassy, wooded park includes hiking trails and picnic areas. A focal point, reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (see p. 264), is the imposing neoclassical monument on a knoll reached by 56 steps—one for each year of his life. Inscribed in the marble building’s entrance is a quote from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in 1865: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” In nearby Hodgenville, look for the larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a somber Lincoln dominating the town square. Behind it, the endearing Lincoln Museum provides a rather old-fashioned
visual immersion experience in all things Abe, through the lifelike wax figures and dioramas depicting 12 scenes from Lincoln’s life, including his Kentucky boyhood, drafting the Emancipation Proclamation, and his assassination at a Washington, D.C., theater on April 14, 1865. Upstairs, a Lincoln library displays artifacts such as historic newspaper clippings, photographs, and campaign materials.

Many other sites associated with Lincoln dot the Kentucky landscape. Just outside Springfield, the Lincoln Homestead State Park contains yet another log-cabin replica, this one of the simple home in which Lincoln’s grandmother raised three sons. Handmade furniture by Thomas Lincoln, Abe’s father, is on display, as is an old blacksmith shop. The park also has leafy picnic areas and an 18-hole golf course.

The city of Lexington is the site of the Mary Todd Lincoln House, a brick Georgian home and former inn that was purchased in 1832 by the family of 13-year-old Mary Todd, who became Abraham Lincoln’s wife years later. The first house museum in America honoring a First Lady, the home’s 14 rooms showcase period antiques, portraits, and family heirlooms. On narrated tours, docents retell lively stories of when Abraham and Mary Lincoln stayed here, including their three-week visit in 1847, after he was first elected to the U.S. Congress.

Created in 1938, the 162-acre Lincoln Homestead State Park is a popular recreation area for residents of nearby Decatur.

W
HERE
: Hodgenville is 56 miles south of Louisville.
A
BRAHAM
L
INCOLN
B
IRTHPLACE
: Hodgenville. Tel 270-358-3137.
L
INCOLN
M
USEUM
: Hodgenville. Tel 270-358-3163.
L
INCOLN
H
OMESTEAD
S
TATE
P
ARK
: Springfield. Tel 859-336-9925.
When:
May–Sept.
M
ARY
T
ODD
L
INCOLN
H
OUSE
: Lexington. Tel 859-233-9999;
www.mtlhouse.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: Feb 2008–Feb 2010 for the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial (
www.kylincoln.org
).

Finger-Lickin’ Fun

London, Kentucky

Pardon the pun, but more than 250,000 visitors each year flock to the World Chicken Festival, held in late September in downtown London, in the heart of southeastern Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest
(see p. 405). The four-day fowl fest includes parades, carnival rides, and such silliness as rooster-crowing and chicken-wing–eating contests. Car shows, kids’ activities, and live entertainment on five stages abound at this unique free event. A Col. Harland Sanders Look-Alike Contest pays tribute to the goateed Southern gentleman in the white suit who first perfected the still-secret “finger-lickin’ good” recipe of 11 herbs and spices, and who first franchised the product we know today as Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the end, the
festival’s greasy good fun all comes down to fried chicken, as tens of thousands of chicken breasts are simmered in the world’s largest skillet—a 700-pound pan that measures more than 10 feet wide.