Second day of the tour catching the bus at 11:15am and heading out to My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown. Stephen Foster supposedly wrote My Old Kentucky Home while staying with his cousins at their home of Federal Hill. It is a beautiful restored 1795 home. No pictures were allowed inside (had the most unusual wall paper).
When John Rowan built Federal Hill he wanted to show his appreciation of the new United States so as you look at the front of the mansion you will see thirteen windows, inside there are thirteen steps in each landing to the second floor. There were many more interesting built-ins that reflect the new nation.
Stephen Foster is suppose to have composed "My Old Kentucky Home" here while he visited his cousins but historians disagree with that story.
The Rowan family cemetery is on the grounds with the earliest death in 1795.
We hopped on the bus and headed to our tour of the Heaven Hill Distillery producer of Evan Williams Bourbon and many more brands. To make bourbon one must have corn, hops, etc., and aged in a new charred white oak barrel for 6 plus years. Haven Hill created the Haven Hill Distillers Bourbon Heritage Center in 2004 as a visitors center with a tasting room. We entered the tasting room and had samples of 8 year bourbon and 12 year bourbon which was lost on me because I don't like bourbon or whiskey.
Bourbon in its barrel is stored in these warehouses on racks, sixteen barrows across and eight high and forty-eight long. All barrels are stored with their plugs on top so it takes some skill to roll them so they land upright. The black on the warehouses is a fungus due to the aging bourbon. Entering one of these warehouses one smells the sweet smell of the fermenting bourbon. The warehouse was cool and dark with only electric lighting for the tourist. We saw the original barrels marked one million, two million etc.up to six million stored in this tourist warehouse. They have over 900,000 barrels aging in these buildings.
One stop left before we head for home, St. Joseph's Cathedral in Bardstown. The first catholic church in Bardstown established in 1783 with the current Cathedral's cornerstone laid in 1816. In 1808 it was named the 5th Diocese in the United States.
Back on the bus we head for home and a buffet dinner at the Derby Dinner Playhouse. One of the best buffets we have had. After dinner a play, Happy Days, was enjoyed by all.
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