1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (56 page)

To catch some live baseball action, the Louisville Bats, a Triple A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, play each season at Louisville Slugger Field. The retro stadium opened downtown near the banks of the Ohio River in 2000, but it already feels like it’s been there forever. In addition to all the familiar concessions (popcorn, peanuts, and hot dogs), the family-friendly venue with a playground and kids’ carousel houses two sit-down restaurants.

Muhammad Ali, the other famous Louisville slugger, is also getting his due downtown, where the new $80 million Muhammad Ali Center opened in 2005. Although the colorful interactive “visitor experience” (it’s not a traditional museum) celebrates the life and achievements of one of the greatest boxers of all time with photographs, artifacts, murals, videos, and other multimedia exhibits, the center’s true focus is on empowering visitors to achieve their personal bests. In the ring, The Greatest’s mantra was “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” But the Ali Center is about more than boxing. The museum’s exhibits concentrate on teaching Ali’s core values, which include respect, confidence, spirituality, and generosity.

L
OUISVILLE
S
LUGGER
M
USEUM
: 800 W.

Main St. Tel 502-588-7228;
www.sluggermuseum.org
.
When:
closed Dec–Mar.
L
OUISVILLE
B
ATS AND
S
LUGGER
F
IELD
: Tel 502-212-2287;
www.batsbaseball.com
.
When:
Apr–Sept.
M
UHAMMAD
A
LI
C
ENTER
: Tel 502-584-9254;
www.alicenter.org
.

Turn-of-the-Century Splendor

Louisville, Kentucky

A few blocks south of the Ohio River and downtown lies Old Louisville, a neighborhood of elegant homes, mansions, and churches from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is the third largest historic preservation district
in the U.S., with some 1,400 structures lining wide boulevards and narrow side streets. Sidewalks shaded by towering trees provide the perfect opportunity for a constitutional through the Dickensian cityscape of various architectural styles—Victorian is predominant, but you’ll find plenty of Arts and Crafts, Romanesque, and Italianate, with some beaux arts and Queen Anne as well. Many of the carefully restored multistory homes feature such decorative elements as turrets, stained-glass windows, and tidy yards rimmed with black wrought-iron fences.

At the southern edge of this neighborhood, on the campus of the University of Louisville, is the Speed Art Museum, named for Louisville businessman and philanthropist James Breckinridge Speed, whose father (also named James) was the U.S. attorney general under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Opened in 1927, Kentucky’s largest and oldest museum possesses collections from classical antiquities through 20th-century American art, including European paintings and sculptures.

There is art and architecture aplenty, but Old Louisville’s charms also extend to browsing the area’s boutiques and eateries. Third Avenue Café’s menu is a casual mix of fresh sandwiches, soups, and vegetarian entrées. Eat indoors or enjoy flower-boxed sidewalk café seating outside under a red awning. For dessert, the pastries, cakes, and croissants that fill its glass cases make Ermin’s Bakery & Deli another local favorite.

The loveliest time to visit Old Louisville is in spring, when the azaleas, redbuds, and dogwoods are in bloom. But summertime means the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, staged at the outdoor amphitheater in Central Park and free of charge. Autumn is desirable for its vivid foliage, and during the first full weekend of October, more than 650 artists from throughout the Americas showcase their fine art and craftsmanship at the closely juried
St. James Court Art Show. Held rain or shine in the grassy, gas-lit courtyards of St. James and Belgravia Courts, the free festival attracts 350,000 visitors each year.

V
ISITOR INFO
: Tel 502-637-2922;
www.oldlouisville.com
.
T
HE
S
PEED
A
RT
M
USEUM
: Tel 502-634-2700;
www.speedmuseum.org
.
THIRD AVENUE CAFÉ
: Tel 502-585-2233;
www.thirdavecafe.com
.
Cost:
lunch $10.
ERMIN’S BAKERY & DELI
: Tel 502-635-6960.
Cost:
lunch $8.
K
ENTUCKY
S
HAKESPEARE
F
ESTIVAL
: Tel 502-637-4933;
www.kyshakes.org
.
When:
June–July.
S
T
. J
AMES
C
OURT
ART
S
HOW
: Tel 502-635-1842;
www.stjamescourtartshow.com
.
When:
1st full weekend in Oct.
B
EST TIME:
Apr, when azaleas are in bloom.

Ancient Caves and a Modern Classic

Kentucky

Prehistoric man roamed the longest, most extensive underground cave system on earth 2,000 to 4,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs and artifacts. Established as a national park in July 1941, Mammoth Cave
continues to draw serious spelunkers and the merely curious, all looking for a little subterranean adventure.

Would-be explorers can enjoy short, easy walks past dramatic stalactites and stalagmites or take on strenuous 6-hour tours that require climbing and crawling through dark, damp, and muddy rock formations, while equipped with headlights, hard hats, and knee pads. Aside from its 365 miles of mapped underground passageways (geologists think there may be another 600 miles yet uncharted), the 350-million-year-old natural wonder offers other pleasures. Aboveground, dense hardwoods lure nature lovers, birdwatchers, and hikers to explore more than 70 miles of trails through old-growth forests. Wildflowers abound spring through fall, and anglers have a field day in the fish-rich waters of the Nolin and Green rivers. The
Miss Green River
passenger boat takes visitors on an hour-long tour of the placid river, one of the most biologically diverse in North America.

Displaying everything from the oldest models to the latest and greatest, the National Corvette Museum is the mecca for America’s sports car enthusiasts.

When you’re ready to hit the open road, head back along I-65 toward Bowling Green. Be on the lookout for the 11-story conical yellow building with a red spike. It’s the National Corvette Museum, the largest nonprofit museum devoted to a particular car—in this case, America’s best-loved sports car. Auto enthusiasts can rev their adrenaline with a brief film about Corvettes and view more than 60 cars, including one of the 300 built the year it was first introduced (1953), the one-millionth
model (1993), and various experimental prototypes. Life-size dioramas lead visitors past a 1950s Main Street barbershop, a ’60s gas station, and a stretch of Route 66 in Arizona. Naturally, mint-condition Corvettes are the centerpieces of each vignette. The General Motors assembly plant—a quarter-mile from the museum and the only place the Corvette is manufactured—is also open to the public.

M
AMMOTH
C
AVE
N
ATIONAL
P
ARK
: 85 miles south of Louisville. Tel 270-758-2328;
www.nps.gov/maca
.
M
ISS
G
REEN
R
IVER
B
OAT
R
IDE
: Tel 270-758-2243.
When:
closed Nov–Mar.
N
ATIONAL
C
ORVETTE
M
USEUM
: Bowling Green. Tel 800-53-VETTE or 270-781-7973;
www.corvettemuseum.com
.
B
EST TIMES
: mid-Mar–Apr for spring flowers; summer for cave tours; fall for foliage.

Bluegrass, Burgoo, and Barbecue

Kentucky

A 19th-century riverside trading post where bourbon, coal, and tobacco were bought and sold, Owensboro lies in the western half of Kentucky on the Ohio River bordering Indiana. Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass
music, was born in 1911 in nearby Rosine, and his presence is felt in the innovative International Bluegrass Museum at downtown’s RiverPark Center. In a series of nostalgic galleries, the evolution of mountain music plays out in old photographs, weathered fiddles and mandolins, and vintage recordings of such gems as Monroe’s seminal “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” the Stanley Brothers’ sorrowful “Angel Band,” and the frenzied “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

As renowned as it is for bluegrass, Owensboro is also famed for its barbecue. Mutton is the star here, slowly cooked over hickory logs and basted in a vinegar sauce. Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn is the definitive place to feast on the city’s signature dish as well as that other regional specialty, burgoo, a thick, hearty mutton-based stew in a spicy tomato base. But Moonlite’s fearsome buffet offers much, much more than just burgoo or mutton: Its brisket and various barbecued meats include equally delicious chicken, ribs, and pulled pork. Burgoo is also a staple at Old Hickory Pit BBQ, which claims that it’s the oldest restaurant in town.

May is the best time to visit Owensboro, when the downtown area overlooking the Ohio River lures thousands of hungry visitors to its annual International Bar-B-Q Festival for samples of slow-cooked chicken, pork, beef, and mutton. Music and barbecue go hand in hand here, alongside lots of kids’ activities, arts and crafts, and a car show.

About 30 miles west of Owensboro, also overlooking the Ohio River, is the small town of Henderson, where the great naturalist and artist John J. Audubon lived and studied birds from 1810 to 1819. John James Audubon State Park includes a museum of his watercolors, oils, and engravings. Henderson’s other famous former resident, W. C. Handy (who lived here for about a decade), is the inspiration behind the free and hugely popular W. C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival, held each June. Before you leave town, check out the Bon Ton Mini Mart, an old convenience store known far and wide for its mouth-watering biscuits and crisp deep-fried chicken.

O
WENSBORO
: 107 miles southwest of Louisville.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-489-1131 or 270-926-1100;
www.visitowensboro.com
.
I
NTERNATIONAL
B
LUEGRASS
M
USEUM
: Tel 888-692-2656 or 270-926-7891;
www.bluegrass-museum.org
.
M
OONLITE
B
AR
-B-Q I
NN
: Tel 270-684-8143;
www.moonlite.com
.
Cost:
buffet dinner $15.
O
LD
H
ICKORY
P
IT
BBQ
: Tel 270-926-9000.
Cost:
lunch $10.
H
ENDERSON
:
Visitor info:
Tel 800-648-3128 or 270-826-3128;
www.hendersonky.org
.
J
OHN
J
AMES
A
UDUBON
S
TATE
P
ARK
: Tel 270-827-2247;
www.parks.ky.gov/stateparks/au/index.htm
.
W. C. H
ANDY
F
ESTIVAL
: Tel 800-648-3128 or 270-826-3128;
www.handyblues.org
.
When:
1 week in early–mid-June.
B
ON
T
ON
M
INI
M
ART
: Tel 270-826-1207.
Cost:
lunch $6.
B
EST TIMES
: May for the International Bar-B-Q Festival (
www.bbqfest.com
); mid-June for Henderson’s W. C. Handy Festival.

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A Hip College Town

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Take a smart and sophisticated university community, add a thousand talented artists from around the nation, set their works among a backdrop of pedestrian malls, gothic academic buildings, and leafy campus
quadrangles, and you’ve got the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, considered the finest (and certainly one of the largest) art shows in the nation for several years running.