This is obviously a city that will need several trips but a week ago I decided to visit and see some of the small oddities and get a feel for the city. The main point of the trip was to visit Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Waverly Hills Ghost Hunt). But I didn't want to just have one thing for the trip. I found some interesting sites along the road from Nashville to Louisville to break up the drive and some cool spots in Louisville. I'll have to return to actually visit the home of the Louisville Slugger some day but for this trip I focused on quick stops.
We had to be at Waverly by 7:00pm so we left Nashville at right around noon. This way we could account for the three hour drive and time zone change and still have time for a bite to eat before we locked ourselves in the haunted Sanatorium for the night.
Our first stop was for lunch as we drove down highway 65 towards Louisville. I saw a sign for an A & W and couldn't remember the last time I had been in one. There was one on Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown, probably still is actually but it's been years. Anyway we stopped for burgers and fries and while I didn't have their famous Root Beer I did get a picture of their tap.
Apparently this is the 99th anniversary of the restaurant so Meg told me we will definitely have to go back next year (to any A & W) for the 100th anniversary. After lunch we finished the drive straight into Louisville and stopped at Against The Grain Brewery and Smokehouse. We weren't very hungry because the A & W was so filling but I wanted to check out a local spot and have a drink.
I pulled up to a meter and got to use my parallel parking skills that are still there and awesome. I put some change in the meter and looked to my side and saw a plaque and bat.
If I had more time (and quarters for the meter) I might have looked for more plaques along the walk. However what luck that I found such a great Yankee without even trying!
Against the Grain had a small out side seating area but we opted to stay inside. The brewery is connected to the stadium which makes it a great pre or post game spot. On the tv inside the brewery was Croatia versus Russia in the World Cup and I hoped that I had put in enough change to watch the rest of the game. I did; and we got to see Croatia win with penalty kicks. We were cheering for Croatia in this game because we have a friend who is a true Croatia fan we were at the edge of our seats (actually I was standing) during the penalty kicks I can't imagine how nervous he was watching as each player took their best shot.
The brewery had a good atmosphere. It filled up as we were there and the staff handled it nicely. Originally we were sitting at a table against the wall right by a big sign with the beer list on it. Another table became available and our waiter offered us to move to the larger table with a better look at the beer lis so we didn't have to strain our necks. It was a simple thought and I really appreciate it. He didn't have to, as I said it filled up, and they would have had no problem seating someone at that table. But he took the time and cared about our experience.
We ordered a flight that allowed us to sample each of their brews and a pretzel appetizer with mustard and beer cheese.
The six beers on the left and right are their mainstays pictured in the sign above. The four in the middle are seasonal or limited brews. I liked them all but I'll call out two specifically. The back left corner beer was the 'Everlasting Gobhopper' (good name). It was a double IPA which sometimes makes me nervous because I don't really like all the bitter usually associated with strong hops. Anyway by initial reaction after my first sip was: "it has two bitters and the second bitter makes the first bitter better." That was my best way of describing it. Had they sold growlers I probably would have bought one to take home of this beer. It was unique and the one two punch of the different bitters really made an impact. Front center is 'Aunt Claudine's Salty Melons' which was a smoked watermelon beer. This was amazing! It is exactly what a watermelon would taste like after being slowly smoked for hours on a smoker. The flavor was strong and really shocking. I loved it though it is definitely a beer meant to be slowly sipped.
The pretzel was also really tasty. I didn't actually care much for the mustard and cheese (doesn't mean it was bad just not my taste) however the pretzel was so perfectly salted I don't know if I would have used the dips if I did like them.
Overall good visit and I would definitely return there next time, especially if I actually go and buy tickets to a minor league baseball game which are really really fun! I have been to games in New Hampshire to see the Nashua back when the Nashua Pride played there, New York for the Long Island ducks, and Nashville to see the Sounds. So why not Louisville in my future.
Waverly was only about 20 minutes away from where we were so we decided to cross off a few of our planned stops for Sunday since we had time. Our first stop was to a small parking lot under the I-64 overpass at 920 west Mainstreet, Louisville. The lot is a monthly pay lot so no parking in it but you can certainly pull over for a minute and walk towards the road where in a small flower bed sits a plaque in honor of Mildred and Patty Hill. These two ladies are credited with the idea for "Happy Birthday to you" one of the most popular songs in the English Language.
The week prior to this trip I had been in Nashville and had found a painted rock left by one of the many statues around Nashville. It was labeled by TF Rocks with direction to check Facebook (Facebook group). So I did. The painted rock fad is a recent discovery to me. Really as the Solar eclipse approached I started seeing more people talking about it. Probably because so many people were traveling for that singular event. Basically if you find a painted rock you have two options. Keep it as a memento from one stranger to another or put it some place else and let the rock travel. I went back to the facebook page and posted a picture of the rock in it's new resting spot. I wonder if anyone has moved it along or taken it with them yet?
A building along the side of the lot had a beautiful mural on it and I snapped a shot of that as well, just one of the gems that can be found when traveling around and keeping eyes open.
I heard a quote while at work last week from G. K. Chesterton
"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see."
What an amazing quote. My goal is to always be a traveler. I want to be open and aware to my surroundings there are simple beauties everywhere.
The next stop on my list was the Hiegold Facade, a building facade that has survived over 175 years, flooding, and being moved to now be located in the middle of a road that leads to a historic area of Louisville and soon to be the north entrance of the Waterfront Botanical Garden. The planned opening is 2019 and I look forward to some day being able to visit the finished project.
The original owner's name was Christian Hiegold he was a stonecutter from Germany who moved to Louisville in 1850. Originally he moved to an area across the street from where the facade now sits that was next to the Ohio River.
Hiegold began work on his mansion almost as soon as he arrived and by 1853 he had completed a large part of it. The statues and stone work showed his skills as he carved images from American history, including busts of past Presidents, and mixed in his own family members. For Hiegold it was a way to show his skill but also his love of his new adopted home even if his fellow Louisville residents didn't reciprocate. At the time Louisville had a large influx of Catholic German and Irish immigrants and many original residents were unhappy. Tension came to a breaking point in Louisville on August 6th 1855 when an angry mob swarmed the German and Irish neighborhoods. They fought and started fires resulting in at least 22 deaths.
Hiegold's facade is the perfect answer to this violence. The facade and his beautiful stone cutting are a true testament to one immigrant's love of America. Above the center second floor window is a bust of President James Buchanan (1857-1861) who was seen as pro-immigrant in his statements against the Know Nothing Party. Along with the words "Hail to Buchanan, now and forever" and "The Union forever, hail to the union forever; never dissolve it." Above the door is a scene depicting President George Washington along with two other figures one for justice and one for society or culture. Under the scene it says "George Washington. The first President of the United States. The man, whose greatness, has never been surpassed. To whom Americans thank their future and the world owes it's love and esteem."
Unfortunately, Christian Hiegold did not get to enjoy his home for very long. He passed away in 1865 and left the home to his son Charles. Due to being a low lying area along the river and the later divert of a large creek away from downtown Louisville the area that the Hiegold's had originally settled began to flood annually. The flooding was so bad that building in that area was completely halted and by 1953 the city of Louisville began buying and demolishing buildings in the area. Luckily the facade was already listed on the National Registry of Historical Places or else it too probably would have been demolished. In the early 2000s a developer bought the area to build condominiums (so I assume they also addressed the flooding issues) and the facade was moved to it's new home.
As I stood there looking at the facade and reading it's history I couldn't help but think some things never change. I live in a country that has been built by immigrants. And as one immigrant population gets adopted into the fabric of America a new group begins to come. And with each new group the settled groups become fearful and cling to 'their' America but it is always changing. Hiegold carved this facade as a monument to his love of his new country. He probably loved and appreciated it more than the mobs of people who took to the streets that Monday. Because what he loved was the best of America the dream of freedom that it offered him and a home for his family. That mob didn't represent America. When John Winthrop gave his sermon aboard the Arbella he told the early settlers that:
"we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us".
John F. Kennedy repeated the comment and sentiment in 1961 when addressing the General Court of Massachusetts while talking about responsibility of government. In January 11th, 1989 Reagan said this in his farewell to the nation:
"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind swept, God blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and I see it still."
On June 2nd, 2006 current US senator and future President Barack Obama addressed the graduating class of the University of Massachusetts by saying:
"It was right here, in the waters around us, where the American experiment began. As the earliest settlers arrived on the shores of Boston, and Salem, and Plymouth, they dreamed of building a City upon a Hill. And the world watched waiting to see if this improbably idea called America would succeed."
That promise and hope for America and the ideal of a city on a hill to be looked up to is the America of Winthrop, Washington, Hiegold, Kennedy, Reagan, and Obama: despite their differences, despite my agreeing or disagreeing with different positions they took and opinions they held, and despite their successes and failures.
When I had pulled up to the facade there was a large group of people, several generations of one family, at the facade. I offered to take a group photo for them and we spoke for a bit. One woman was from Louisville and her family was in town visiting. I told them about the plaque to Mildred and Patty Hill before they left.
From the facade we left for Waverly. That adventure is going to be it's own post which I will link here when I finish it but it will take time because of the amount of video and audio recordings we took. Sunday morning after our investigation we went to Cave Hill cemetery and spent hours there. Again that will be it's own post as well which I will link here when done.
The first thing we did after leaving Waverly was to nap, then we got coffee. Then we decided to see our last quick Louisville sight before spending hours at Cave Hill cemetery. We went to the NIA center where there is a sculpture of clasping hands made out of Indiana limestone
The sculpture is called Opportunity Portal and was built in 2000 by Meg White and Don Lawler. Then we continued to Cave Hill cemetery.
After Cave Hill cemetery we decided to get lunch in Louisville before heading home. AT first I tried to go to my back up brewery (in case against the Grain was closed or full) BBC aka Bluegrass Brewing Company. One good thing about Sunday is that the meters were all turned off. One bad thing about Sunday is that things tend to open later. BBC didn't open for several hours and since neither of us wanted to wait around for it we had to come up with a plan B. Now I had been hearing about the Louisville Hot Brown Sandwich while researching Louisville, in Cave Hill we actually found a grave that claimed to be for the originator of the sandwich. So I googled "where was the best place to get a Louisville Hot Brown Sandwich in Louisville." The closest suggested place to where we were was the Bristol Bar and Grill. So we walked a few blocks to the restaurant. They had just switched from brunch to dinner which ended up working out nicely for us. We each ordered a Hot Brown and a local beer from different breweries. Meg got the blonde ale from Great Flood Brewing company and I got a wheat ale from Upland Brewing Company. Now other than the name of the sandwich I knew nothing about it. So when they came out they took me by surprise because while it looked tasty it did not look at all like I imagined a sandwich to look like.
We tried it and it was really good. I can now tell you that it is an open faced sandwich with turkey, tomato, and bacon, and a mornay sauce. I was thinking it was the Louisville version of hot chicken and that it would be brown maybe from bourbon since we were in Kentucky. Nope. Nope. Nope. The manager at one point came over to see how we were doing and I said we were good and the food was delicious. Then I explained we had never heard of the sandwich before and didn't really know what to expect. Well he gave us the history of the Hot Brown. Picture this: it's Prohibition and the guests at the Brown Hotel had been perhaps, having something that wasn't quite legal. They get word the cops are on their way over and needed something that would help sober them up. A quick thinking chef at the hotel takes sliced white bread and leftover turkey covered in a mornay and serves a late night snack to the guests. We thanked him for the history and happily finished our meal, which, by the way, was also a good road trip meal because it was filling but not to heavy.
And now we were on our way home with just a few stops to break up the drive. The first stop was the Barrel of Fun Ice Cream Stand where we could get ice cream from a building sized barrel.
It was very good ice cream too and a perfect rest stop and reenergizing stop.
Next up was a walk around the town center of Elizabethtown Kentucky. I parked in a municipal lot and we walked around the block to find a building that had a Civil War cannon ball lodged in it's exterior wall. There were a lot of people out and enjoying the pretty weather and I realized that they were playing Pokemon Go. I never played it but it is nice to see people outside enjoying the weather and interacting. Anyway we walked around until we came to the corner building.
So apparently during the battle of Elizabethtown a cannonball was lodged in one of the buildings. They left it there until a fire in 1887 took the building down. The cannonball was found amid the debris and when the building was reconstructed it was put back as close to the original location as possible.
Up next was a drive through Mammoth Cave Park to the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church in Cave City Kentucky. This was a long drive as we slowly drove through the woods on really narrow roads that had me concerned when traffic came in the opposite direction.
Next to the church is the Mammoth Cave Cemetery and buried in it is William Floyd Collins, a local cave explorer who became trapped in one of the caves and eventually died. The rescue operation lasted for over two weeks and attracted thousands of tourists to the site. It also became one of the biggest media events of that time due to the rising home ownership of radios. The rescue efforts were broadcast across the country. Unfortunately rescuers reached him several days to late.
Our final stop on the way back was to see the ruins of Bell's Tavern in nearby Park City. The tavern was built back in 1830 by William Bell. It was here that tourists coming to visit Mammoth Cave and the other caves in the area would depart from stage coaches and rest. In 1860 the tavern burned down and has never been rebuilt but the ruins are now a historic site.
As soon as we got home we both promptly fell asleep. We had been up earlier then planned on Saturday and then investigating all night Saturday with just an hour nap afterwards. So we were spent.
