Country Roads

A full day devoted to life before and during the Civil War. After breakfast at the hotel, we begin the day with a personalized “In Their Footsteps” tour of The Hermitage, home of President Andrew and Rachel Jackson. Within the walls of this magnificent home, we’ll explore our 7th president’s fascinating life and still debated legacy. After an on-site Picnic Lunch we’ve arranged a special Plantation Wagon Tour, providing a deep dive into the lives of the plantation’s enslaved peoples led by an historic interpreter. Included are stops at archaeological sites unraveling the story of daily farm life. Returning to the Harpeth, we set off on a Battle of Franklin Trolley Tour, offering an in-depth look into war that forever changed America. A tour highlight is Carnton Plantation. Built in 1826, one of the premier farms of Middle Tennessee, on November 30, 1864 this home and the McGavock’s who lived here found themselves caught between two armies. This evening, enjoy fine southern cooking on a River Dinner Cruise aboard the mighty General Jackson, one of the largest and grandest showboats ever built. A second night at the Harpeth.

After breakfast at the hotel we visit Dayton, TN, where 100 years ago, this little town captured the attention of the world through a misdemeanor trial that in many ways never ended. The Scopes Monkey Trial pitted a local school science teacher, John T. Scopes, against the State of Tennessee. His crime? Violating state law by teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. An entire nation listened in via radio as legal titans Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan conducted the first “Trial of the Century”. Their confrontation stoked a national debate over science vs. religion that continues to the present day. Returning to Franklin, free time before dinner this evening on our own. A final night at the Harpeth.

After breakfast, we depart Franklin for Hodgenville, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. For over a century, people from around the world have come to this rural setting to sample the humble beginnings of our nation’s 16th president. Next, we visit nearby Knob Creek, where the Lincolns moved to in 1811 after losing their farm over a land dispute. In an 1860 letter Lincoln said, "The place on Knob Creek... I remember very well; but I was not born there... my earliest recollection, however, is of the Knob Creek place." On to Louisville, outside of which we’ll pause at the grave of Zachery Taylor, the Mexican War hero turned 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. This afternoon we check-in to Louisville’s famed Seelbach Hotel, a remarkably lavish 1905 Beaux-Arts Baroque structure, where F. Scott Fitzgerald used a local bootlegger as inspiration for Jay Gatsby, and Al Capone favored a suite with hidden doors and secret passageways. Among the more respectable clientele: U.S. presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. Dinner this evening before overnight (the first of four) at the Seelbach.

After breakfast at the Seelbach we head to Bardstown, where we’ll visit My Old Kentucky Home with its incredible associations to Stephen Collins Foster and the Kentucky Derby. Known as "the father of American music", Foster penned this ballad after visiting the three-story brick residence of the Rowan family. Composed in 1852, the song is sung before every Kentucky Derby. Foster is also remembered for such American standards as "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", and "Swanee River". Exploring this 200-year-old mansion and plantation home we’ll hear stories of deadly duels, horse racing, fortune, fame, demise, all against the backdrop of fine antiques and handsome architecture. We won’t leave before guides favor us with a performance of the song for which the house was made famous. Lunch today is at the Old Talbott Tavern. Built in 1779, it’s the oldest western stagecoach stop in America. Traces remain of the staircase to the loft where men were housed in one room and women in the other (the practice of individual rooms for guests was not introduced into the U.S. until 1805). This afternoon we visit Clermont, KY, home of Jim Beam. We’ll enjoy an interactive tour of the famed distillery and discover how the Beam family has been making Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey for over two centuries. The tour concludes with a tasting of their finest creations. Returning to the Seelbach, some free-time before dinner.

Breakfast at the Seelbach before traveling to Lexington, and the Kentucky Horse Park, an indoor/outdoor educational theme park dedicated to "man's relationship with the horse." Here we’ll enjoy a Horses of the World Show, showcasing both common and rare breeds from around the globe. In the Hall of Champions we’ll encounter several recent thoroughbred champions which have taken up honored residence at the park. In the past these have included such legends as John Henry (Horse of the Decade and top money-winning Thoroughbred gelding in history); Cigar (voted Horse of the Decade for the 1990s); and Da Hoss (first horse to win Breeders' Cup races in non-consecutive years). Kentucky Derby champions Alysheba and Funny Cide have also called the park home. A special Bluegrass Luncheon at the horse park before returning to Louisville to enjoy A Day at the Races at world-renowned Churchill Downs, the holy grail for aficionados of horse racing and home to the Kentucky Derby since 1875. Here we’ll try our hand at handicapping the field and even place a few wagers. A festive dinner this evening at Joe’s Crab Shack on the mighty Ohio River.

After breakfast at the Seelbach we visit Locust Grove, home of George Rogers Clark. By 1776, just a few isolated settlements had sprung up in the area, built by settlers who refused to heed England’s 1763 proclamation forbidding such westward habitation. At the age of nineteen, Clark had a land claim on Fish Creek in what is now West Virginia. He persuaded Virginia to declare today’s Kentucky a county of the Old Dominion. This gave the newly designated region an identity, a government and supplies. When the Revolutionary War broke out, settlers were at the mercy of Indian tribes encouraged by the British to raid the American-claimed frontier. Clark convinced Virginia’s governor, Patrick Henry, to send him along with a small army north of the Ohio River where they captured British outposts and reduced the Indian threat for Clark’s Kentuckians. This afternoon we visit the Muhammad Ali Center, full of artifacts and interactive displays that bring to life Ali’s singular achievements inside and outside the ring. Discover Ali’s pivotal “red bike moment” that led him to lace up his first boxing gloves. Explore the controversy over his objection to the war in Vietnam that led to his being exiled from boxing. Punch and jab in a recreation of the Deer Lake training camp where Ali dedicated himself to reshaping his technique and regaining his title. Our final stop today is Cave Hill Cemetery, where we’ll pause to pay our respects to Ali and explorer Meriwether Lewis Clark, and maybe raise a drumstick to Harland Sanders (founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken). A special Farewell Dinner is planned this evening. A final night at the Seelbach.

It’s been a great tour! After a final full breakfast, we depart Louisville per our own schedules.