Kentucky – a road trip through the state:- part 14
Before we go on to the serious part of this trip, the distillery tours, I thought I would mention two other places that are local and provide an interesting day out between them if their content appeals to you.
The first is the Civil War Museum & the Women’s Museum of the Civil War. The Museums are located in downtown Bardstown. They are the largest Museums devoted to the Western sector of the American Civil War. The exhibits are authentic period pieces displayed over an area 8000 square feet. They tell of the history of the fierce struggle between the armies of the Union and Confederacy. However they contain themselves to an area bordered to the east by the Appalachian Mountains and to the west by the Mississippi and then south to Georgia.
The Museum’s buildings are adjacent to the Old Bardstown Village, a collection of ten original 18th and 19th Century log structures that form a Colonial period settlement along Bardstown’s Museum Row.
The collection includes the flag of raider John Morgan’s 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman’s presentation sword and a silver flask presented to Confederate General John C. Breckinridge who was a former Vice President. The curators have tried to ensure that the collection is balanced between both sides of the conflict. There are individual room displays about the Politics of the time, Slavery, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and the Navies. One of the centre pieces of this collection is John Mosby’s one pounder smooth bore cannon made by Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond, Virginia.
The Women’s Museum of the Civil War looks at the history of female writers, spies, nurses, administrators and also some of the combat soldiers of the period.
The other part of your day can quite happily be spent looking around the Kentucky Railway Museum. If you like old style steam engines then you are in for a treat. The museum has purchased from the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad a 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive built in 1905 by Rogers Locomotive Works. L& N #152 is the official steam locomotive of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as designated by an act of the Kentucky Legislature. It is also listed on the national registry of Historic Places. It operates some weekends between spring and autumn. Depending on when you are reading this article you do need to check with the local web site as the engine is due for an overhaul which will mean it will be out of action from mid-2015 until sometime in 2017.
Also at the site is BL 2 #32 which is a 1500 HP locomotive, with a 16 cylinder, 567B engine.
C& O 2716 is a 2-8-4 Kanawa class locomotive built by Alco for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1943. There is also a diesel electric engine with a single 16 cylinder engine. it is the only known CF-7 in the original Santa Fe paint scheme.
There are too many other exhibits to mention all of them but the Kentucky Club car along with its sister cars the Alabama Club and Tennessee Club which were rebuilt by the L & N railroad show what a former Pullman Standard car should be like.
The next section of the trip now continues with our look at the distilleries in part 15.
Before we go on to the serious part of this trip, the distillery tours, I thought I would mention two other places that are local and provide an interesting day out between them if their content appeals to you.
The first is the Civil War Museum & the Women’s Museum of the Civil War. The Museums are located in downtown Bardstown. They are the largest Museums devoted to the Western sector of the American Civil War. The exhibits are authentic period pieces displayed over an area 8000 square feet. They tell of the history of the fierce struggle between the armies of the Union and Confederacy. However they contain themselves to an area bordered to the east by the Appalachian Mountains and to the west by the Mississippi and then south to Georgia.
The Museum’s buildings are adjacent to the Old Bardstown Village, a collection of ten original 18th and 19th Century log structures that form a Colonial period settlement along Bardstown’s Museum Row.
The collection includes the flag of raider John Morgan’s 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman’s presentation sword and a silver flask presented to Confederate General John C. Breckinridge who was a former Vice President. The curators have tried to ensure that the collection is balanced between both sides of the conflict. There are individual room displays about the Politics of the time, Slavery, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and the Navies. One of the centre pieces of this collection is John Mosby’s one pounder smooth bore cannon made by Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond, Virginia.
The Women’s Museum of the Civil War looks at the history of female writers, spies, nurses, administrators and also some of the combat soldiers of the period.
The other part of your day can quite happily be spent looking around the Kentucky Railway Museum. If you like old style steam engines then you are in for a treat. The museum has purchased from the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad a 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive built in 1905 by Rogers Locomotive Works. L& N #152 is the official steam locomotive of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as designated by an act of the Kentucky Legislature. It is also listed on the national registry of Historic Places. It operates some weekends between spring and autumn. Depending on when you are reading this article you do need to check with the local web site as the engine is due for an overhaul which will mean it will be out of action from mid-2015 until sometime in 2017.
Also at the site is BL 2 #32 which is a 1500 HP locomotive, with a 16 cylinder, 567B engine.
C& O 2716 is a 2-8-4 Kanawa class locomotive built by Alco for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1943. There is also a diesel electric engine with a single 16 cylinder engine. it is the only known CF-7 in the original Santa Fe paint scheme.
There are too many other exhibits to mention all of them but the Kentucky Club car along with its sister cars the Alabama Club and Tennessee Club which were rebuilt by the L & N railroad show what a former Pullman Standard car should be like.
The next section of the trip now continues with our look at the distilleries in part 15.