Ghostly Good Travels in Kentucky
Fall, the best time of year for stories of ghosts and other haunting, is upon us. From now through early November, take a trip to where your spine gets tingled by tales of paranormal activity throughout Kentucky.
A new ghostly tour gets underway this weekend in Newport, where accounts of the city’s racy and mobster past come together to raise your fright quotient. The new “Ghosts and Gangsters Tour,” developed by the group that started the Newport Gangster Tours last spring, is an hour-long exploration of haunted sites in downtown Newport. The tour, which costs $20 per person, starts and ends at The Syndicate night club, whose violent past as a casino and speakeasy during Prohibition has led to tales of haunting by the spirits of slain gangsters. For more information, visit www.newportishaunted.com.
Uncanny sights and sounds are the subject of a jaunt through the historic Old Louisville neighborhood, where several of the impressive Victorian mansions are said to be haunted. The 90-minute tours, based on author David Domine’s books on the neighborhood’s ghostly history, depart Fridays from the Old Louisville Visitors Center at 7:30 p.m. and cost $25 per person. For reservations, call 502-637-2922 or visit www.ghostsofoldlouisville.com.
The otherworldly residents of Bardstown are the subject of the Bardstown Ghost Trek Saturdays from 8-10 p.m. The $15 tours, led by paranormal expert Patti Starr, start outside the Old Stable Restaurant. For more information, go to www.ghosthunter.com/ghosttrek2.htm. Starr is also organizing a Ghost Hunting Getaway Weekend Nov. 6-8, 2009. Call 859-576-5517 for info and reservations.
Experience the Haunted Frontier at Old Fort Harrod State Park, where you will be guided through the graveyard, hear a ghost story and then navigate a large maze, where spirits of long-ago residents of the fort in Harrodsburg may still linger. The volunteer-led tour of the fort’s otherworldly side is $5 per person. For more information, call 859-734-3314 or visit the park’s web site at www.parks.ky.gov.
One of the reputedly most haunted sites in Kentucky is the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville. Although the former tuberculosis hospital closed in 1980, the spirit world remains rampant. The Waverly Hills Historical Society hosts a haunted house every Friday and Saturday in October from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. To learn more, visit www.ghosteyes.com/waverly-hills-sanatorium.
Get in touch with the spirits at Camp Nelson, a Civil War training facility just south of Lexington, with the help of a mother-daughter ghost-hunting team from Nicholasville, Jessi and Starr Chaney. Friday and Saturday tours for $15 per person provide hands-on experience on how to use ghost-hunting equipment and communicate with spirits from the other side. For more info, go to www.kyghosthunters.com.
Wide-ranging information about ghost tales and legends throughout Kentucky can be found at www.prairieghosts.com/hauntky.html.
Blaze Your Own Trail Along These Kentucky Trails
The Bluegrass State has wonderful driving tours mapped out to take you along beautiful scenic roads and themed areas of interest. These trails make for great meandering experiences so plan to take your time going and coming with plenty of time alloted for shopping, dining and exploring.
The Country Music Highway runs almost the entire length of Eastern Kentucky and the byway has been home to more than a dozen well-know country music stars. Heritage sites along the way include Native American, pioneer, Civil War and mining history and heritage.
Just for you, we put together several Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails as a great way to discover the richness of Appalachia. These scenic tours are designed to take you where you can experience the places, people and incredible art created in this region. Take your time and Kentucky comes alive through the fine crafts made along these trails.
History is best learned by doing. Salute the 275th birthday of trail blazer, soldier, hunter, and explorer Daniel Boone by following his path along The Daniel Boone Country Trail. Begin at Cumberland Gap, where he forged the way to the new west to hunt and move on north to Richmond across the river from Fort Boonesborough.
This year wraps up the anniversary celebration of Kentucky’s native son Abraham Lincoln. Kentucky’s Lincoln Heritage Trail is made up of the main sites that interpret the 16th President’s Kentucky connections. The sites highlight the key people, places and events that established Lincoln’s complex legacy with Kentucky.
What says Kentucky more than bourbon? We produce 95 percent of this uniquely American spirit. Eight distilleries are connected by scenic drives through rolling Bluegrass hills and horse farms. Each distillery along The Kentucky Bourbon Trail has a character of its own where conditions and climate are the best for this time-honored tradition. Check out the possibilities at www.kybourbontrail.com. Thirsty for more? Check out Kentucky's vineyards at www.kentuckywine.com.
For additional information about Kentucky’s trails of all types, log on to www.kentuckytourism.com/thingstodo/trailsroadsinterests.htm.
Large Reasons for a Kentucky Visit Come in Tiny Packages
Few places in the world exist where visitors can enjoy such an impressive collection of miniature buildings, rooms and artifacts. Maysville, Kentucky ranks right up with Chicago and England as a premier destination for miniature replicas. See for yourself at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, located in this charming, historic river town.
Experience a new way to look at the world by traveling through an unrivalled collection of thousands of 1:12 scale miniatures, each specially commissioned by Maysville native, Kaye Browning. The collection features hundreds of limited-edition or one-of-a-kind homes, room boxes, vignettes and individual works of art that tell charming stories or exude historical significance—all created with incredible artistry and craftsmanship.
From glorious mansions to small apartments, these exquisite miniatures offer a detailed glimpse of how people lived in other times and other cultures. Each one captures the essence of life, whether it was lived in the distant past, in some faraway place, or in the here-and now.
Visitors will be delighted and impressed by the intricate skills needed to create the exhibit and will want to experience the museum again and again to enjoy this small but impressively large collection as it changes with the seasons.