Another Visit to Frankfort, KY

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Ron and I  go back to Frankfort today so that I could take in an antique store I had spied there the other day.  It is quite large and includes antiques, flea market stuff and some new stuff.  You notice I say "stuff" because some of it was just that.  Did find a couple of books (like I need a few more to put in the already full plastic container in the basement and more for the cabinet in the RV), but they were books by a new author I am reading so I feel justified.

We take a tour of the Rebecca Ruth Chocolate Factory which is located in historic downtown Frankfort and has been since 1919.  The chocolates are all hand made and wrapped by 7 employees and shipped all over the country.  There was even a conveyor belt for the candies and a lady sorting the chocolates much like Lucy and Ethel did on the Lucy Show for those of you old enough to remember that episode.

Rebecca and Ruth were two friends who were substitute teachers who resigned from their jobs and set out on a candy making business a year before women had the right to vote.  During prohibition the ladies made candy in a local barroom. Rebecca sold  her part of the business to Ruth in 1929.  During World War II when sugar was rationed, friends gave Ruth their sugar rations to make her chocolates and  recycled metal coffee cans used to put the candy in.    During the depression people could not afford to buy candy by the box, so Ruth sold it by the piece.  A fire left Ruth with no money, possessions and only the clothes on her back in 1933.  She was now a widow with a young child to support.  Requesting a $50 loan from the bank to start anew, she was turned down even though she had been running her own business for 14 years.  They told her she was a woman and couldn't be trusted because did not have a husband or father to tell her how to spend the money. Fanny Rump, a widow who was a hotel housekeeper, when she heard Ruth's story, loaned her her life savings ($50) and Ruth was able to pay her back in just a few months.

The long and short of it is that the business is still thriving and today is owned by Ruth's grandson Charles and his family who still work in the business.  Oh, I forgot to tell you that after the tour and learning Ruth's history and seeing her many antiques, you get a sample of one of her signature candies.  Our choice was the Mint Kentucky Colonel Chocolate which was so rich and delicious that we bought a small box of them.

Ruth; however, is known for being the first to make Chocolate Bourbon Balls when someone commented in her presence that there was nothing better than a sip of Bourbon and a bite of Ruth's Mint Kentucky Colonel Chocolate.  After two years of experimenting, she came up with the "Bourbon Balls" whose recipe is still today a secret.  They are delicious as we had one yesterday at the Buffalo Trace Distillery.  They make the bourbon balls for Buffalo Trace and other local distilleries.

After leaving the candy company, we stop in at the Elks Lodge which is in an old building in the old part of Frankfort and sandwiched between two other old buildings on a side street.  The Lodge has a nice lounge and we were told they also have a bowling alley and billards and card room on one of the three floors above the street level.  Our hamburgers (fat and well prepared) and cokes were delicious fortifying us for our walk around town to see the old buildings and homes.  By now, you are probably tired of seeing all the old houses I put in this blog, but they are all so different and the same.  It is interesting to learn when they were built and who actually lived in them originally.  Some of the buildings dated to the 1870 and 80's and houses even earlier.

We would love to return to Kentucky again as there is still so much we did not have time for.  It is a very green state with lots of horses and white fences and barns, at least in this part of Kentucky where horse raising and racing are so much a part of life here.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

We leave Whispering Hills RV Park around 9:30 this morning headed for Tennessee.  There is no interstate highway that goes diagonally across the state, but there are a number of "Parkways" with limited access which do the job well.  Someday, we see by a sign, they plan to make all of these "Parkways" into I-69.  Right now going from one to another means leaving one down a ramp and entering another one.  The road is quite smooth except over the many bridges and there are numerous places where construction work is in progress to update and/or improve the roadway.

We will stay overnight in Union City, TN which is just over the border from Kentucky.  Tomorrow we will actually travel in three states before getting to our destination of North Little Rock where we plan to spend a couple of days.

One of the interesting plants growing in Kentucky and a bit in Virginia which we had never seen growing before is Tobacco.  In some places there are small fields of it and in others there are acres and acres.  From what I have read about tobacco, it appears that the stalks here are nearly ready to be cut  with leaves attached and to be cured.  Tobacco in Kentucky is fire cured which means that the stalks are hung for from 10-13 weeks . This type of tobacco is used in some chewing tobacco, moist snuff and a condiment in pipe tobacco blends.   Sun dried tobacco is used in cigarettes.  So now you know all you didn't want to know about tobacco.

Tours

Today Ron and I took two different types of tours in two different cities.

Our first tour was in Georgetown which was at the  Georgetown Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Plant which was the first wholly owned manufacturing plant in the United States.  The first car off the line in 1988 here was the Camry which now sits in the Visitor Center with 94 miles on it.  This plant is the largest plant outside of Japan and employs 7,000 who work in two shifts a day.  2,000 Camry, Avalon and Venza cars roll off the assembly line each day with a total of 500,000 cars per year.  Wow!

At the Visitor Center there are hands on and visual displays.  Here too begins a  tram tour of the 94 million square foot facility which takes about an hour.   Our first stop was to watch a short video recounting the history of Toyota in Georgetown then riding on a narrated tram tour through stamping, body welding , plastics and assembly areas.  The facility has its own health department, gym and several cafeteria, day care and preschool facilities.  All employees take their breaks and lunch hour at the same time so assembly is stopped during that time.  We also learned that after each break, employees on a team doing a certain process change to doing some other process within that teams job descriptions thus helping employees to not get bored or tired doing the same process.  It also helps with their overall health on the job.  Ron tells me that Presbyterian where he work as well as many other companies follow Toyota's management and inventory processes which were outlined for us today.  No pictures were allowed.  We could not even bring in purses, back packs or any kind of electronic device.  These had to be left in your car.

After leaving Toyota, we headed 20 miles down the road to Frankfort where we took a walking tour of  the Buffalo Trace Distillery, the most award winning Distillery which has been producing bourbon since 1787 and proudly holds the title of the oldest continually operating Distillery in American even open during Prohibition for "medicinal" purposes . The facility is a National Historic Landmark, next to the Kentucky River,  stands on 130 acres in the heart of Kentucky with five centuries of architecture represented and has numerous old red brick multi level buildings where the oak barrels filled with bourbon are aged.

Our tour began in the Visitor Center and proceeded across the complex to an old building where we watched a video about the history, heritage and fine Kentucky bourbon.

Our tour included walking in a century-old aging warehouse,

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learning about the different stages of the bourbon-making process and the hand bottling of premium bourbon. Back at the quaint Visitor Center we are offered a free sampling of two Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced on site in a tasting room filled with old pictures of the distillery.  Since Ron and I drink very little in the way of hard liquor, we really didn't know what was different or the same about either of the ones we tasted.  All I know is that I really don't like straight liquor much.  We enjoy wine and beer more.  

 We also were offered a sample of Bourbon Cream and advised to mix it with some offered root beer.   In addition, we sampled some Chocolate Bourbon Balls.   Yum! Yum!

We came away with several bits of knowledge about bourbon.  There are two kinds produced - one with corn, rye and malt mash and another made with corn, wheat and malt mash each producing a different taste. Bourbon has to be produced with a minimum of 51% corn while bourbon produced with more corn being sweeter.  Bourbon made with rye is spicier than that made with wheat.  The barrels are aged in multi storied brick buildings with barrels on different floors producing different flavors due to the different temperatures found on each floor. The one time use oak barrels used for the aging process are sold to micro breweries, some to individuals  for planters and decorative items and others to distilleries to make other kinds of whiskey.  The facility also includes a gift shop along with its tasting room.  Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about bourbon.

 What an interesting day we had.

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Georgetown, KY

Another sunny day with the threat of showers.  Oh, well, we will make due if that happens.

Our ventures today center in Georgetown.  Georgetown 's first permanent settlers, Baptist Minister Elijah Craig and members of his flock, arrived in 1784 and incorporated the town of Lebanon.  The territory was at that time part of Virginia.  In 1790 the Virginia legislature renamed the city George town in honor of President George Washington.  It is believed that the first bourbon whiskey was made in Georgetown by Rev. Craig in 1789.  Bourbon is no longer produced in the county, however, the state remains the nation's largest whiskey producer.

Our first stop is at the Kentucky Horse Park which is a world famous equine park dedicated to sharing Kentucky's love of horses with the rest of the world.  It is a 2,224 acre park which is home to a number of horse events, an international museum of horses, a working farm, and many shows.  The grounds are beautiful but we are not into horses much so elect to walk around the outer grounds taking some of the pictures below honoring Secretariat and Man  of War.

Along the road back we pass the Old Friends Farm for Retired Thoroughbreds which is a 92 acre farm that is home to over 65 former racehorses.  The non profit retirement center was established in 2003 and cares for mostly stallions whose racing and breeding careers  have come to an end.

Taking another back road, we head north taking pictures along the Buffalo Gals Barn Quilt Trail where we find many barns with wood quilt block designs attached to the barns.  Each quilt pattern is unique.  We have seen this in a couple of other states, but never driven the roads until today.  Below are a number of the barns we photographed.  

So much of the back roads lead you past what I typically associate with Kentucky and horse raising shown below.  It really is beautiful countryside with wooden fences, lots of green grass and beautiful homes and barns.

Many of the barns in this area are worth more than a million dollars such as the one below.

Just out of town and on our way downtown is this beautiful old national landmark home, Ward Hall, built in 1853 and believed to be the largest Greek Revival house in Kentucky.  Unfortunately they only do tours on the weekend.

We finished our day today taking pictures of some of the beautiful large old homes along the Main Street of Georgetown and walking the historic downtown streets taking more pictures of the interesting buildings.  We never seem to get enough of these old buildings.  They are all so different and yet the same.

This is the old Scott County Jail

Note the quilt blocks on the railing and side of the building

Old City Hall

Note the date on the building below.

Frankfort, KY

Sunday, August 9, 2015

We have spent the past couple of days just relaxing in the RV and enjoying not doing anything.   Being on the go so much this summer was nice but  just sitting and relaxing is nice too.  The campground we are in here in Georgetown, KY is located just out of town on several acres and our site overlooks a pond and a local farm with house and barn.  It is a very popular and busy campground and was almost full every night especially over this past weekend. We will be here until next Thursday when we  move on to Tennessee for one night before heading into Arkansas for about a week.

Today we take a drive to Frankfort, KY which is the state capital and about 20 miles from here.  Frankfort has been the state's seat of government since 1792.  The city's north and south sections are separated not only by water but also by their historical backgrounds and architectural styles.  The north section originated around 1786 while the south was developed after the new capitol was built in 1910.

Taking a local highway takes us through some beautiful countryside with large farms and some lovely large homes on numerous acres. Along the way we see a sign for an old covered bridge in the town of Switzer.

The bridge was built in 1855 by Geroge Hockensmith and restored in 1906 by Louis Bower and spans the North Fork of the Elkhorn Creek.   The bridge stands 12 feet high and 120 feet long.  In 1997 it was damaged but rebuilt in 1998.   Unfortunately it has been marred by graffiti.  The bridge was not on our list of attractions, but taking back roads often leads you to these interesting sights.

While driving down another road in the old part of Frankfort we discover an old Civil War fort called Fort Hill which is located up several very steep hills and down some very, very narrow residential streets.  The Visitor Center building (Sullivan Inn and Tavern which was moved here from somewhere else) in the park is closed today but we are able to find a few signs to tell us about the battle that took place here.\

"There are two Civil War earthworks in the park -- Fort Boone and the New Redoubt. A detachment of John Hunt Morgan's raiders attacked Fort Boone on June 10-11, 1864, but a group of local militiamen fought off that raid from behind the walls of the fort. The New Redoubt was built by Union Army engineers as a replacement for the state-designed Fort Boone. Ironically, the Fort Hill earthworks are Union fortifications built in part by slave labor -- slavery remaining legal and commonplace in Kentucky until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Men of the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry did much of the work on Fort Boone."

Back on the main road is a sign for a Kentucky River Dam which we follow through some old, old residential neighborhoods to the Dam now abandoned.  The buildings here are very old and dilapitated.  In 1978 there was a flood here with water 48 feet above the river below.  Hard to believe it rose that high.

We also drive through historic Frankfort downtown which today is mostly closed up allowing us to see more than we would during the week.

Back on the road to Georgetown we pass this Jim Beam plant and find some 18 wheel tankers with the Ballard name on them.  We had hoped they did tours here, but they only do them in Lexington.  There is a Distillery in Frankfort which we will tour another day.

Further along the road we come to this old Catholic Church originally built in 1794 with the current structure built in 1820.  St. Francis Mission is the second oldest Catholic Church west of the Alleghenies.

One of the things we have noticed on our travels here in Kentucky are the many, many rock walls surrounding properties with a very unique top on them consisting of flat stones similar to slate placed on their sides vertically all along the top such as the one here.  What we learn is that there is no mortar between the rocks.  These fences are called dry stone fences and they relied on stonemasons for their stability.  The majority of these fences were built in the late to mid 19th century by Irish stonemasons.  During the 1990's it was realized that only a few of these fences in poor condition were still standing.  The Dry Stone Masonry Conservancy was formed to preserve and continue the art of dry stone masonry.  Interesting and different.

Traveling certainly allows you to see so many different things and to learn more about our country and its history, customs in different states and see some beautiful countryside.  I would not trade this time in the RV for anything.