♥ Bardstown/Kentucky Bourbon Festival ♥

This afternoon, my friend, Megan, and I drove about an hour Southeast of Louisville to Bardstown, KY.

Bardstown is called the Bourbon Capital of the World because of the town's history of distilling. The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is a week long annual event with historical tours, live entertainment, food, and, of course, Bourbon! The Festival was smaller and much less crowded than both Megan and I expected. We came to assume that it must have been because it was Sunday, and most of the shops and restaurants in the main town square were closed. We figured that perhaps Friday and Saturday were the most active days of the Festival.

Anyway, the day began when I picked Megan up at her house around 1:00pm and we set out for a pretty drive through the hills and horse farms of central Kentucky! It was so beautiful! I would love to see the area in the middle of Fall!

Bardstown is a very easy drive from Louisville. It is literally straight down Bardstown Road. It takes you right smack to the middle of Bardstown! We were so giddy when we saw what a cute town Bardstown is. The old European architecture reminded us of something you would see in a Disney movie or theme park! I was just waiting for Belle to come prancing and singing down the street!

We quickly and easily found a parking spot between St. Joseph and Spalding Hall, right next to where the Festival was being held. We walked around and looked at the different booths for a bit.

This was so cool. It was carved out of a tree trunk, roots and all!

I'm just a sweet, Southern Belle!

We walked through the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History and the Bardstown Historical Museum. Both museums are housed inside Spalding Hall. Spalding Hall was built in 1819 as St. Joseph College and Seminary. During the Civil War, it was used as a hospital for the wounded from both North and South. Then, around 1900, the Sisters of Charity turned the building into a boys orphanage. Finally, the hall was established as St. Joseph Preparatory School for boys until 1968. Today, in addition to housing the museums, it is also home to St. Catharine College, Xavier's Restaurant, offices, and a special event room.

December 5, 1933

Bartender Megan!

This was the chapel back in the days of St. Joseph Prep School.

Wedding dress from 1919. My, how things have changed!

An old washing machine.

She's a natural! ;-)

We walked back outside and strolled through a display of old cars.

Kiddie versions!

1935 Touring Car!

1940 Suburban.

Right across the street, there was a house for sale. They were having an open house so Megan and I decided to take a peek! It was a beautiful old home. The owner told us it was built in the 1920s. The floors were original and had that wonderful, old creaking sound! The kitchen and bathrooms had obviously been updated and were beautiful. We loved the stained glass windows in both of the upstairs bathrooms.

Megan found a cool mask in one of the bedrooms!

The girl who lives in this room is a girl after my own heart. She loves Paris, too! In addition to the painted screen with the Eiffel tower, she had a huge Moulin Rouge area rug (the real Moulin Rouge, not the movie!), and the wallpaper border around the walls was Moulin Rouge themed!

We took one last spin through the booths before heading to the next item on our agenda.

We stopped to enjoy a delicious Bourbon Ball! Click HERE to read my short blog post on Bourbon Balls!

Before leaving the area, we decided to go next door to the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral. It wasn't until I saw it that I realized that it is also on my Louisville Bucket List! Read my blog post about it HERE!

Megan and I drove back to the town square (which was actually a circle - with the Welcome Center/Old Courthouse building at its center) and decided to walk up and down the quaint streets for a little while.

We only found one shop that was open on Sundays (Seems strange that the other shops wouldn't open special for the Festival! They could have had good business!), so we went in and browsed for a bit. There were a lot of cute things! (I apologize in advance for the poor color quality/lighting of some of these photos! :-)

Fun with mirrors!

Finally, we decided to grab some dinner before heading out of town. Again, most places were closed, but we managed to find a little Mexican restaurant that was open for business. The decor was very colorful and fun, there was spunky Tejano music playing, and we were greeted with an "Hola Senoritas!" It gave me high hopes for the quality of the food. But, we were still in Kentucky, after all! The food wasn't too bad, though. I think I'm just coming to realize that the Mexican food here is not necessarily bad, it's just seasoned differently. Oh well. Gives me something special to look forward to whenever I travel back to Texas!

We headed back to Louisville around 5:30pm. It was a very fun day! I'm glad that Megan got to join me, too!