Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Equus Winery, Kentucky

Day 11 of Caravan and Day 12
Tuesday, May 8th and 9th
Lexington, KY
Kentucky Horse Park Campground

Kentucky has many "dry" counties especially in eastern Kentucky, but there are many distilleries and wineries.  Today we toured the Equus Run Vineyard.  I was not too excited about this because so far the wines we have tasted in the Southeast have not been that great to us.  We like Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay mostly and I thought they were close to the same everywhere.  At this winery we really liked all three of these an in talking to the wine master we found out that the grapes came from California, Oregon and/or Washington.  Who would have known.  We also found out that Chardonnay grapes do not do well here in the east so most wineries that make a Chardonnay use different grapes to blend and try to make something that tastes like Chardonnay.  The same with Merlot and Shiraz.  So to make a long story short we really enjoyed these wines.


Approaching the winery (through windshield)









Line em up!  There's 50 of us coming.


I love the tobacco barns that you see everywhere and I finally found one that we could stop and get some pictures.  First up this dirt road

Then tromping through the grasses

The barn is coming into view


Finally at the barn and looking back at the truck



The tobacco barn.  They are all painted black to absorb the heat

These are tall narrow doors to let the air circulate



 I was able to get inside.  The boards are spaced out to allow for air

 Inside, looking at the tall narrow door


Stack of lathes, they are about four feet long.  The tobacco plants are about four feet tall, they are cut and then hung over these lathes and then hung on very strong cross bars in the barn .  Tobacco barns are very well made as they have to hold a lot of weight. 
 They usually last through a a severe wind storm.



Continuing on to Day 12, May 9th
Visit to the Governor's Mansion, Capitol and old Capitol in Frankfort






Formal dining room for large groups





On to the Capitol








The Old Capitol, was approved by the Legislature for construction in 1872
Most of capitol is made of "Kentucky River Marble," a local form of limestone.  Inmates from the state penitentiary provided some of the labor for the project.  They invented a steam-powered machinethat was used for cutting the stone which helped with the speedy construction of the building.  Government officals becan using the building in 1829,
construction was completed in 1830 at a cost of $85,000.


After a bitterly contested election for governor in 1899, the state Legislature met to decide the winner.  As William Goebel, the Democratic contender, approached the building he was gunned down by an assassin hiding in the office of the Secretary of State.  In the aftermath of the assassination, armed citizens and soldiers from both political parties threatened to fight their own miniature civil was.  A peaceful solution was finally reached in court.  Goebel was swarn in as governor after he was shot and then died three days later.


Circular stone staircase.
Each step of this staircase fits into the one above it, and all are held in place by a keystore landing on the second floor.  There is no visible support for the fre-standing staircase.e


Hand carved plaster


original chandler, now with electric lights




That's it for now

Safe travels to all and have a blessed day

Nancy and Joe



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