Louisville, Kentucky:
runways for the roses
by Julie Ball Hambrick | Photography by Greater Louisville CVB
 The famed Kentucky Derby is just one of the many attractions of this genteel southern city.
It’s a question debated as feverishly among natives as it is among the city’s visitors: Is Louisville part of “the South” or isn’t it?
The Kentucky Derby is Louisville’s annual rite of spring. On the first Saturday of May, the town wholeheartedly celebrates Kentucky’s two institutions close to its heart: bourbon and horse racing. And locals gladly share these two relentlessly Southern traditions with anyone who happens through their historic and stately city at this beautiful time of year. It’s the perfect time to visit but you won’t be alone, so book early to be sure you have a place to stay.
Royal Roots
Louisville (locally pronounced “LOO-ah-vul”) was founded in 1778 by Revolutionary War hero Gen. George Rogers Clark and named for King Louis XVI in gratitude for France’s help during the war.
The city’s charter was signed in 1780 by then-governor of Virginia Thomas Jefferson, and its subsequent growth owes much to its location, inside a bend in the Ohio River in the center of the nation’s eastern half.
During the Civil War, Louisville became an important Union base of operations and a major military supply center. Because of its strategic location at the Falls of the Ohio, the city was a major commercial center. River transportation was supplemented by the construction of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which was chartered in 1850 and covered more than 1,800 miles by 1920.
Much of Louisville’s history and color resides in the downtown area and adjacent neighborhoods. The heart of the city is jammed with historic sites and is best explored on foot. You’ll find more examples of 19th century cast-iron architecture on Louisville’s West Main Street than anywhere in the U.S. other than New York City’s SoHo district.
One of two major cathedrals in Louisville, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption, was completed in 1852. It is the third-oldest U.S. Cathedral in continuous use. When completed, its 287-foot spire was the tallest in North America.
If you like authentic steamboats, check out the Belle of Louisville, usually moored at the Fourth Street Wharf — just follow the sound of her ever-present original steam calliope. The steamboat, christened the Idlewild in 1914, is the oldest Mississippi-style sternwheeler still afloat. Cruises cast off daily from May to October. The Spirit of Jefferson, the Belle’s smaller, more modern “little sister,” spends part of her season in downtown Louisville, and also cruises from Riverside-The Farnsley Moreman Landing, a restored 19th century farmhouse with splendid views of the river in the southwest of the county.
Old Louisville, just south of downtown, is the third largest National Preservation District — and the largest Victorian district — in the nation. Mile after mile of grand homes dot the streets of Belgravia and St. James Courts, with architectural styles including Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque,  Queen Anne, Italianate, Chateauesque and Beaux Arts. It also boasts the largest collection of residential stained glass and art glass windows in the United States.
The architectural explosion grew out of the 1883 Southern Exposition, held in what is now Old Louisville. Thomas Edison personally flipped the switch to light the event, which became the largest display of electric illumination outside of New York, and marked the debut of the electric trolley car.
Today, the neighborhood gets a charge the first weekend of every October from the St. James Court Art Show. Over four decades, it has grown into one of the largest U.S. open-air art shows, with more than 700 exhibitors. Several hundred thousand visitors each year peruse the handcrafted wares amid brash fall colors and the elegant Victorian surroundings.
Visitors to downtown Louisville can enjoy several one-of-a-kind attractions within walking distance of one another. The Louisville Slugger Museum is home to the world’s largest bat. Made of steel, it weighs 68,000 pounds and stands 120-feet tall — an exact-scale replica of Babe Ruth’s 34-inch model.
Visitors can share a dugout with Casey Stengel and Mickey Mantle, step onto the field and face down a 90-mph fastball, or admire the genuine lumber swung by Ty Cobb, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron, followed by a factory tour.
In 2001, the local art scene welcomed Glassworks, a space designed to house and showcase the work of 50 artists who work with glass. Through July 2003, the facility will join creative forces with The Speed Art Museum and other local galleries for “The Celebration of Glass,” a citywide exhibit of work by national and international studio artists including Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra.
Also located on the riverfront is Slugger Field, new home of the Bats, Louisville’s minor-league ball club. The stadium’s retro-classic design incorporated three sides of the original 1889 Brinly-Hardy Warehouse and seats more than 13,000 fans. The construction was completed in early 2000, at a cost of $27.8 million. The end result is a family-friendly venue with grassy outfield seating, two full-service restaurants, children’s playground and carousel. The playing field is close to the stands: home to backstop is only 60 feet, the same distance as at Chicago’s storied Wrigley Field.
Derby Days
Nothing draws as many visitors to Louisville as the Run for the Roses. No thoroughbred race in America can match the Kentucky Derby’s tradition. First held in 1875 before a crowd estimated at 10,000, attendance continues to set new record levels each year. Even grumpy old curmudgeons get misty-eyed at the first notes of the sing-along “My Old Kentucky Home.”
Regularly among the attendees for what is called “the greatest two minutes in sports” are the familiar faces of the rich and famous. Churchill Downs’ Sky Terrace becomes a veritable who’s-who, with luminaries such as Jack Nicholson, Muhammad Ali, Donald Trump and (the first) President George Bush watching the races wind down to a final dramatic turn with the rest of the cheering crowd.
The Kentucky Oaks, held the Friday before the Derby, is an important stakes race for three-year-old fillies. The Oaks’ surging popularity has turned a “day at the races” into a weekend-long marathon.
But the party starts even before that. Two Saturdays prior to race day, Louisville’s Derby Festival kicks off, luring 1.5 million people to town by the end of the two-week community celebration. For the 14-day run up to the race, Louisville assumes a carnival-like atmosphere. Bourbon flows freely, parties pop up right and left, and celebrities flock from both coasts to the upper-echelon galas. Box seats and grandstand tickets are extremely hard to come by for the Friday and Saturday races, and many locals instead flock to Churchill Downs on Thursday when the out-of-towners are still otherwise occupied.
The festival blasts off with opening ceremonies — “Thunder Over Louisville,” the nation’s largest annual fireworks and air show extravaganza. Now in its 13th year, Thunder delivers a riverfront eye-popper with more than 30 minutes of continuous synchronized pyrotechnics for an average attendance of half a million people.
Originally thought of as a time-filler to build up the crowd before the fireworks display, the preceding three-hour air show now includes civilian performance aviation and demonstrations from all branches of the Armed Services. Active duty military aircraft perform fly-overs, including three demo teams with the F-15, F-16 and F-18 jet fighters, F-117 stealth “Nighthawk” jet fighter and B-1B “Lance” bomber, followed by a heritage flight of the WWII P-51 in formation with the F-15 and F-16.
| |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Get all the details on this and other travel destinations, visit our AG Concierge for more information.
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
For security reasons, fly-overs of Churchill Downs and all Derby Festival activities are now strictly prohibited. A good time can be had if you are willing to join thousands of standing-room-only revelers in the racetrack’s infield, but prepare for a Mardi Gras atmosphere and scant viewing of the horses as they whip past the rail in a blur.
Part frat party, part family reunion, this is the gathering place to gallop full-speed into Spring, Louisville-style.
|
|
|
Plan your route to Louisville with FlightPrep.com
|
The Best of
Louisville
|
Best Season: Louisville is perhaps at its peak in the April weeks just before the Kentucky Derby: brilliant green grass, azalea and dogwood and red-bud blossoms competing with the crabapple, narcissus, and tulips. However, those leery of crowds and not particularly interested in the races should steer clear of the last two weeks of April and the first week in May when tens of thousands of visitors make the Derby pilgrimage.
Best Landing: The week before the Kentucky Derby is the busiest period of private and commercial air traffic in Louisville — pilots begin arriving Thursday morning in full-force. Bowman Field (LOU), 15 minutes from the downtown area, is a towered airport with two paved and lighted runways, 4,326 and 3,579-feet respectively. Louisville International Airport (SDF) boasts the usual amenities and traffic of a big-city airport. Both offer rental cars, public transportation, and cab and limo services. The quieter, non-towered Clark County Airport (JVY) is 10 miles north of Louisville in Sellersburg, Ind., with a 5,500-foot runway and GPS approach. This low-traffic rural airfield is a good pick for Derby-time flights, but no shuttle or rental car services are available; taxi service runs on a called-in-as-needed basis only.
Best Places To Stay: Thanks to preservation efforts and major renovations during the 1980s, the city has two “golden age” hotels. The Camberley-Brown and The Seelbach Hilton have been restored to their past glory. Constructed in 1905, The Seelbach is a baroque-style structure filled with turn-of-the-century architecture throughout the public spaces and guest rooms. Designed by Preston J. Bradshaw, The Brown opened in 1923 at a cost of $4 million. The 16-story, concrete and steel hotel is in the Georgian Revival style, faced in brick and trimmed in stone and terra cotta. The interior design of The Brown is primarily of the English Renaissance style with Adams period detail.
Best Places To Eat: The river city enjoys a wealth of notable high-end and down-home eateries. For an evening of elegant, inventive cuisine, make a reservation at the Seelbach’s Oak Room. Renovated from a billiards hall that once welcomed Al Capone, the restaurant now offers Southern-style cuisine using the best locally produced ingredients. Try the Southern-fried hominy-encrusted spoonfish or chicken stuffed with Newsom’s Kentucky country ham served with Maker’s Mark bourbon sauce. For hip, homestyle comfort food, check out Lynn’s Paradise Café. Famous for its kitschy decor (including a proudly displayed “ugly lamp” collection, a giant coffeepot fountain and concrete critters) and button-popping breakfasts, Lynn’s has a surprisingly sophisticated dinner menu served on vintage Formica-topped tables. Portions are suited to field-hand-sized appetites, but be mindful to save room for a tempting homemade dessert.
Best Romantic Adventure: Of all the gin joints in the world, you’ll want to walk into this one. Situated in the historic airport terminal of pre-WWII Bowman Field, Le Relais offers beautifully plated French cuisine, combined with relaxed, first-class service and an intimate, 1940s’ art-deco ambiance (plush banquettes, live jazz, burled-wood walls, and closely spaced, white-clothed tables) reminiscent of Casablanca’s Rick’s Café American. For a more romantic view of the airport against a Kentucky sunset, dine al fresco on the deck. With a little imagination, you can see it exactly as Charles Lindbergh did when he landed the Spirit of St. Louis here in 1927. It’s pricey, but worth it.
Best Planning Resources: For complete trip-planning assistance or to create an itinerary, log onto the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Web site, www.goto
louisville.com. For information about the Kentucky Derby and other Thoroughbred races at Churchill Downs, go to www.churchill
downs.com. For Kentucky Derby Festival and Thunder Over Louisville events and schedules, access the official Web site at www.kdf.org.
|
|
|
