Louisville, Abe Lincoln and the Bourbon Trail

Last Updated on December 18, 2023 by Ranchers

This may be one of our best unplanned trips yet. After spending a few days at Mammoth Cave National Park, we thought we would make a quick trip to Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. A quick check of the map and we realized we would be within striking distance of Louisville, and in keeping with our commitment to sample the preferred adult beverage everywhere we go, we thought Louisville would be the perfect spot to grab lunch and a drink. Knowing we were in Bourbon country, some further lite research revealed we could basically drive a triangle from Mammoth Cave to Louisville, then on to Lexington before returning to Mammoth Cave and significantly cover the majority of the Bourbon Trail. Seemed like a plan, and it wildly exceeded my modest expectations.

Louisville

Let me start by saying no trip to Louisville should consider itself complete without a stop at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. Alas, please note the lead-in paragraph about this being an unplanned visit. Our normally meticulous planning gave way to a bit of spontaneity, and it led us to completely bypass the most famous landmark in the city. Take from that what you will. No matter, rather than dwell on what we missed, we will focus on what we did. For us, it was certainly enough to put Louisville on the list of places we would like to return and delve more deeply into what the city has to offer.

Big Four Bridge

Gateway to the city, Waterfront Park is an excellent example of Urban revitalization and reutilization. Like so many waterfronts in urban locations, the area surrounding Big Four Bridge was a collection of abandoned industrial buildings and trash.

Community efforts and solid civic leadership transformed this area into the 82 acre park it is today. In 1986 after nearly 50 years of desire, but complete inactivity, the Waterfront Development Corporation, a non-profit entity, was finally created to oversee the redevelopment of Louisville’s riverfront. Six years later, in 1992, ground was broken and today there is green space, ample walking paths, restaurant spaces, amphitheaters, and more.
Of course, discussion of Waterfront Park must include the most obvious landmark to the park, Big Four Bridge. When Angela and I first arrived at the park, we naturally assumed the name was plural and began trying to identify which bridges comprised the ‘Big Four’. Tourists, I know. Big Four Bridge is in fact a single railroad bridge connecting Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana. It gets it’s name from the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the “Big Four Railroad”. The bridge was in operation for about 75 years, then decommissioned in 1968. In 2013 it finally reopened as a bicycle and pedestrian path and an integral part of Waterfront Park. The walk from Kentucky into Indiana roundtrip is about two miles. The bridge spans approximately a half mile and the sweeping circular staircases are about a quarter mile each. The bridge provides some great views of the city and the waterway.

If the heights of the bridge do not appeal to you, there is always the Belle of Louisville, a refurbished 100 year old steamboat. Or, if your sense of adventure simply doesn’t include heights, there are a variety of watersports available for rent at the waterfront.
Today, Waterfront Park hosts year round events and the bridge actually has customizable LED lighting you can rent for your special event. Pretty awesome.

Muhammad Ali Center

Even if you are not a fight fan, see the spectacle that was Muhammad Ali. The center is a combined museum and social justice center. While the museum was certainly my focus, the art on display in the social justice wing is worth a look. The museum on the other hand is worthy of half a day or more. It takes you on a meandering path over three floors through a timeline of Ali’s life with plenty of memorabilia from his fights. While focusing on Ali, the timeline also includes plenty of commentary on American and world events of the time. It is a great juxtaposition of the rising popularity of a polarizing figure with the social unrest of the time. Significant emphasis is also rightly placed on his achievements as a humanitarian.

For me, as great as the exhibits are, the highlight of the museum is the ‘Ali, All the Time’ section. Few will remember, and many are probably unaware, but the airports used to have coin operated TV’s. The TV was mounted right to the chair, this big bulky box years removed from the faintest concept of a flat screen, and for a quarter, you could get enough time to watch one show. Of course programming wasn’t on demand so you’d best save your quarter until the big hand was on the six or twelve, but I’m wandering here. The point is, this section triggered a long forgotten memory of airport TV’s circa late 1970’s, coinciding with the height of Ali’s prowess in the ring and perhaps the greatest period of heavyweight boxing in American history. There are multiple sitting areas spread around the exhibit space and each allows you to sit down and watch any Ali fight in its entirety, commonly in black and white, with the original broadcast commentary. Just fantastic.

Louisville Slugger Museum

Having little to write about this museum should not diminish how worthwhile the visit was. The problem for me is the name pretty much tells you exactly what you’re getting into. It’s a museum with a singular focus – baseball bats.

That said, the history of the enterprise and the evolving technology is fascinating. They create thousands of bats daily with varying degrees of complexity. There are mass produced bats for Little Leaguers and non-professional types, and then there are the individually crafted bats to meet the exact specifications requested by a professional player.

Every one of those templates is unique and stored in the computer to allow for producing another copy of the bat at any time. Of course, the computer is much faster and efficient than the original hand lathes and calipers the original designers used, but impressive nonetheless. I also really enjoyed the ‘bat vault’ that holds every template the company has ever made.

The tour is fairly short and there is a small interactive area along with the requisite gift shop. In all, worthy of a couple of hours of your time.

Proof on Main

Proof on Main is a restaurant within the 21c Museum Hotel. You can’t miss the place, there is a ginormous gold recreation of the statue of David right out front. Apparently, the chain is famous for its penguins, but I’m willing to bet the David is far more memorable for your average tourist, and I am nothing if not average.

The Museum Hotel hosts contemporary art from around the world and rotates frequently. You will need to traverse the hotel lobby and past a portion of the museum space to enter the restaurant. I tell you about the hotel because it is a cautionary tale meant to inform not dissuade if you are of the hetero persuasion. We visited during Pride month and let’s just say they really threw themselves into the theme. The gallery was universally dedicated to aggressively Pride friendly art with special emphasis on the letter G. So many penises.

I thought once we had successfully traversed the gallery, the restaurant would represent a return to more traditional art. Wrong. Although not nearly as naked, the art in the restaurant was firmly in the prevailing theme. Here’s a G-rated sample, my apologies to the artist – I hope I’m not violating some form of copyright.

Forewarned is forearmed but if you let a little art stop you, you are going to miss out on a fantastic meal and a drink prepared to perfection. Don’t get me wrong, we immediately called my daughter-in-law to let her know where we were and she just as quickly informed me I was easily moving two steps up on the Kinsey scale. (You’ll have to look that up yourself if you don’t know). All in good fun, mostly at my expense.
The staff was excellent and the seared octopus was particularly noteworthy. In keeping with our goal of consuming adult beverages from the region, Angela promptly ordered a Mint Julip and immediately regretted it (I violated the spirit of the rule and got a beer). The drink was artfully prepared and looked delicious but neither of us could choke it down. Our waitress, upon noticing the liquor face, came right over and then asked the bartender for a recommendation. We settled on their Signature Old Fashioned and a Bourbon Hibiscus concoction, both of which were delicious. High marks to the bartender.

It’s trendy which universally means spendy, but the quality of food, drink, and atmosphere (especially if you can laugh about how uncomfortable the art made you), is well worth the slightly elevated pricing.

Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace and Childhood Home

If there is one thing I have learned during our travels, everyone wants to claim some piece of Abraham Lincoln. In fact, there are no less than sixteen National Park sites associated with Old Abe. While Illinois is the state most commonly affiliated with Lincoln as a public and political figure, these two spots in rural Kentucky represent his formative years until about eight years old. From there the family moved to southern Indiana where he would spend the remainder of his youth before eventually moving on to renown in Illinois.
Both sites are quite small and easily visited as an add on to your day in Louisville or as a side trip from your Bourbon Trail adventure.

Birthplace

Located in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln’s Birthplace contains the first memorial erected in his honor. The memorial stands at the high point of the land once belonging to his family and encloses the symbolic family cabin. That’s right – symbolic. Even though the designers of the memorial tried to pass if off as original, the NPS immediately questioned its veracity when it began administering the site. After some controversy and scholarly debate, NPS settled on ‘symbolic’ as no concrete evidence could be found to support its claims of authenticity.

Very disappointing until you discover the family kept disassembling the original cabin and taking it with them to their next home. It turns out growing up in a log home didn’t mean you were poor. In fact, the Lincolns would be considered firmly middle class by todays standard, although the term didn’t find its current meaning until well after Lincoln’s time.
The birthplace site is also home to a boundary oak. Boundary Oak isn’t actually a type of oak, it’s just a big ass tree that is an easily identifiable landmark used to mark property lines back in the day. Actually, the boundary oak died in 1976 and was removed completely in 1986. Now there is a placard denoting its place in history, and gives rise to the potential for the quintessential method of directions from a Mainer – “Head over yonder to the tree that isn’t there anymore and then climb the hill up past the house that looks like it could have been Lincoln’s and then turn left past where the farm used to be and you’ll be there.”
As a consolation prize, there is a nice walking loop that takes you up the stairs to the monument and then through the woods and back around to the Visitors Center to give you a chance to stretch your legs before heading out.

Childhood Home

Abe’s childhood home is barely a whistle stop in your day. Located about seven miles from his birthplace in LaRue County, the Lincoln’s moved here after a land dispute with their landlords. There are two buildings on site, a replica cabin and the Lincoln Tavern both built around 1933.

Don’t quote me, but this may be America’s very first tourist trap. The buildings were built on the site of the Lincoln property specifically to capitalize on renewed interest in US history and Lincoln in particular during this time period. The Tavern displayed Lincoln memorabilia and offered motorists food and drink.

Today, the tavern is an interpretive center and no longer serves food. There is a nice picnic area and if you are the adventurous sort, you can cross the water and go for an extended hike in the woods.

Bourbon Trail

Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail, while steeped in history, isn’t a historical trail per se. Today’s Bourbon Trail is a trademarked program sponsored by the Kentucky Distillers Association. There are two versions of the trail, the classic with eighteen distilleries, and the craft tour with 28 distilleries. There is also the unofficial Urban Bourbon in Louisville with eleven distilleries, although there is some overlap with the KDA tour. There are also some notable independents, like Buffalo Trace, that withdrew from the KDA when parent company Sazerac apparently decided they didn’t want to play well with others. At least that’s my two cents.

Internal Kentucky politics aside, following a loose triangle between Louisville, Lexington and Bardstown will net you almost fifty distilleries to choose from. Tours range in price, and some require advance planning. Choose as many or as few as you like, or just hit the gift shop, but just remember all those half shot samples add up and will definitely sneak up you. Drink responsibly.
Of one thing you can be certain, whether you stay in Louisville, experience the Bourbon Trail, or choose Lexington or Bardstown, these folks know their bourbon and are more than happy to share their experience. From the liquor store, to the restaurant, to the gas station quick stop, bourbon abounds as do bourbon enthusiasts. Don’t be afraid, ask questions, learn a little something while stopping just short of inebriated.