Franklin County Kentucky

As Louisville prepares for the Kentucky Derby, we both have off for Oaks day. As we do not have tickets for this fun event, we will take the opportunity to visit the Capitol of our great state. We are ready for our first Kentucky 120 Travels adventure!

SWITZER COVERED BRIDGE

We headed into Franklin county, east on Highway 60. We are going to see the Switzer covered bridge. This happens to be our cover picture. It was built in 1855 and it was renovated in 1906. It was placed on the National Historic Register of Historical Places on September 6, 1974. In 1997 a flood washed it off of its supports and was restored in 1998. It is 120 ft. long and 11 ft. wide and spans the N. Elkhorn creek on KY. Hwy. 1262. It no longer allows traffic to cross, except on foot.

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FISH HATCHERY

Heading north for more sights in Franklin County, we went to the Frankfort Peter Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery. There are 140 acres of land associated to the hatchery, with several homes on-site for the conservation officers and their families to live. We were in luck as the Conservation team was working on draining a pond to re-grade the silt. There were 10,000 fish that needed to be netted and moved to other areas. This was quite an interesting watch. One of the officers came over to explain the process and provide information on the land – so nice!

This area was built in the 1950’s as a federal fishery, but was changed in the 80’s to become the Kentucky Fish Hatchery. No federal funds are used to maintain the hatchery; all monies come from the sale of fishing and hunting licenses and fines. Rob has certainly helped pay for this acreage then!

There were lots of blue herons flying about and watching the team work. The officer said they lose 20% of their fish to the birds.

BUFFALO TRACE

We left there and headed over to Buffalo Trace distillery – a great day for a bourbon tasting. The smell of bourbon greets you when you arrive; what a great welcome! There were so many excited people milling about the gift shop learning about one of our amazing commodities. As we had many visitors to our state for derby, several were dressed smartly! We toured the grounds and had to buy a bottle of that amazing Bourbon Cream – Yum!

JIMS SEAFOOD

We moved on to Jim’s Seafood for lunch. It is a local restaurant that sits right on the water. The food is awesome! And the view rivals the food.

DOWNTOWN

We needed a walk after that big lunch, so we moved to historic downtown are and walked the streets. They were setting up for the governor’s Derby breakfast. All the tables were getting decked out with fun horse head and tails! The train was parked and ready for the morning trip.

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REBECCA RUTH CANDIES

What trip would not be complete without a trip to the candy store? We stopped by Rebecca Ruth for some of their famous bourbon balls. The best value is the goofs. These are the ones that are not perfect, but the taste is still wonderful!

We finished our trip with a tour of the Capitol building. The building has so much history and charm. How all that marble was carried in and used, just makes the building so fabulous. The floral clock was not in full bloom, but ready for spring. We drove across to see Daniel Boone’s grave and the view of the Capitol from the hillside; so majestic!