The Bluegrass State - part 1

Kentucky

(Sightseeing)

November 23, 2017 - November 27, 2017

While staying on the north side of the Ohio River in Aberdeen, Ohio, we visited Maysville, Kentucky, just over a bridge.  As I said, Maysville was the hometown of Rosemary Clooney who, for those too young to have heard her sing or seen her in movies, was George Clooney's aunt.  George grew up in Augusta, Kentucky which is just a way's downriver from Maysville.  Reaching back further in time, Maysville was founded by Daniel Boone, among others and it became a very important port, especially as western expansion began.  Rivers were the main way people got around prior to trains as well as important commercial routes to move goods east and west or north and south.  Because of it's position just across the river from the "free state" of  Ohio, it was also an important stop on the underground railroad.

Aberdeen, Ohio as seen from Maysville, Kentucky

We happened to be there over Thanksgiving and we had a delicious Thanksgiving buffet at an Italian restaurant located right on the banks of the Ohio in Maysville. Watching from the restaurant as well as from our campsite were were struck by how many barges were being pushed or towed up and down the river.  It's a very busy waterway.

Front of a raft of barges being pushed upstream.

I guess this would be a sort of tug boat although very different in design from what we typically see in Puget Sound.
In this case it's pushing a raft of barges upstream.  From what we could tell the barges appear
to be tied 3 across and anywhere from 4 to 8 barges long. It's a huge load!

The city is filled with wonderful old brick buildings built years and years ago.  The brickwork and window treatments are so solid and visually interesting. I just love the feeling of strength they exude.

The city has recorded it's history in a series of interesting murals painted on the city's floodwall.  After our Thanksgiving dinner we drove around to see as many of the murals as we could find.

A small sampling...

This mural represents the part Maysville played as part of the Underground Railroad.
It shows various items which were used to communicate to escaping slaves the route and timing for their escape to freedom.

1900's waterfront.
A representation of the important roles the Ohio River and the railroad have played on Maysville's prosperity.

This mural depicts a county event called Germantown Fair which includes a horse show. 
This event has been going on for over 150 years.

This mural celebrates a visit by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1825.
Lafayette, who came from France to help us in our war for independence, was a hero to many Americans.
As a result, there are many towns named for him throughout the country.

This mural celebrates a Native American bison hunt in the Maysville area.
These were woodland bison rather than the more familiar plains bison.

This mural celebrates native daughter Rosemary Clooney. 
It represents a parade held to celebrate the premier of her movie "The Stars are Singing" at the local Russell movie house.
The premier was held in Maysville at her insistence.  About 20,000 people attended the parade.

We were interested in seeing the National Underground railroad museum in Maysville but we found it was closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday so we went instead to the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center.

The museum features local Kentucky history and had a special showing by a Ukrainian artist.  The thing that really caught our attention however was the Katherine Savage Browning Miniatures Collection. This exhibit is a MUST SEE!  Mrs. Browning started collecting miniatures over 40 years ago and her hobby has taken her all over the world!  All items are 1/12 scale miniatures (1" = 1') and are made by the best miniature makers in this unique field.  Unfortunately pictures were not allowed in this gallery so I can't show you the incredible work done by these artists but you can see some examples at the following link: KSB Miniatures Collection.  When you see the pictures you probably won't realize the items are miniatures.  The workmanship is absolutely incredible.  You'll start at the "Home" page but be sure to check out the following: "Christmas Exhibits", "About - Exhibits", "Blog."  You'll only see a small sample on this link.  The actual exhibit space in the museum is 3300 sq. feet!  It is mind blowing!

Saw these obituaries in the local paper in Maysville.  Anyone see anything unusual about them?

We next drove to Lexington, true bluegrass country and home of thoroughbred horses.  As you drive around the area there are miles and miles of fenced pastures surrounding huge mansions with fancy gated driveways.  Clearly there is a lot of money in this area.  We stayed in a campground on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park which, during the season, has hundreds of things to see and do.

The Horse park itself is huge. In addition to the campground there are numerous horse attractions to see including a wonderful museum.  I love horses and was sad not to be able to see some actual horse events. That is one of the issues when you travel "off season".  We did go to the museum and walked through some of the special barns in order to see a few of the horses still in the park.

There are numerous tribute statues to famous horses around the park.

A Clydesdale horse. 

An Arabian horse on the left and a Frisian horse on the right 

Some of the more interesting things we learned in the museum:

• In the first Kentucky Derby (1875) 13 of the 15 entrants were ridden by African American jockeys!
• Seven African American jockeys have been inducted into the National Museum's of Racing's Hall of Fame.
• Although there are many types of draft horses, the most common are the Shire, the Percheron, the Belgian, the Clydesdale and the Suffolk.  (Note: the Frisian horse in the picture above is a draft horse from the Netherlands.)
• Activities involving humans and horses include: Polo, Rodeo, Reining, Dressage, Para-dressage, Driving, Vaulting, Eventing, Jumping, Endurance, Racing and Harness Racing.  

Kentucky is where President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd were both born but under very different circumstances.  He was born on a farm in the country and she was born to wealth and privilege in Lexington.  She was the fourth of sixteen children from two different wives.  Here are some pictures from the house she grew up in after the age of 14. Until then she lived just across the street.  Not all the furniture is original to the family but is generally representative of the time period and degree of the family's wealth.

The property originally included a separate kitchen, slave quarters, kitchen garden, outhouse, etc.  Clearly Mary's father was a wealthy man who provided very well for his sixteen children.  He died at the young age of 58 and despite being an astute businessman he died without a will.  This caused problems within the family when one of his sons from his first marriage challenged the proposed settlement of the estate, forcing this house to be sold.  It was subsequently used as the base for several businesses, the last being a sort of hardware store.  Pictures from the time the house was purchased in order to preserve it's historical value show the various rooms in a state of total disrepair.  The work involved to restore it to it's present state was enormous but the outcome is stunning.  It's a beautiful home, well worth seeing.