The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (25 page)

Outside Bardstown are several must-visit sites. The first is a cooperage. The spirit wouldn’t be possible without oak barrels; in fact, it would just be moonshine.
Kentucky Cooperage
(712 E. Main St., 270-692-4674,
www.independentstavecompany.com
) makes up to 1,800 barrels a day in Lebanon. Visitors watch the barrels constructed and see the charring process that gives bourbon its dark color and rich flavor. Tours are offered Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and last about 45 minutes.

Finally,
Maker’s Mark
(3350 Burks Spring Rd., 270-865-2099,
www.makersmark.com
) in Loretto should be on every bourbon tourist’s list. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest Kentucky distillery site still in use, dating from 1805, although the Samuels family—distillers since the late 1700s—didn’t purchase it until 1953. It’s a pretty sight, with black wooden distillery buildings with red shutters scattered around manicured grounds. A highlight is dipping your own souvenir bottle in red sealing wax, which costs $18.95 for a pint.
[$
PLURGE
: For a splurge, you could pick up a liter for $44.95, which has a private label and is signed by distillery president Bill Samuels, Jr., and his son Rob.]

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Bardstown–Nelson County Tourist & Convention Commission,
1 Court Sq., Bardstown, KY 40004, 800-638-4877,
www.visitbardstown.com
.

shop the world’s longest yard sale

MICHIGAN TO ALABAMA

Three dollars and it only transports matter?!

—
CARTOON CHARACTER HOMER SIMPSON, SHOPPING AT A YARD SALE

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Imagine if the offerings of eBay were spread out over hundreds of miles of highway. You could drive all day, stopping to examine antique four-poster beds and vintage vinyl record albums. How about a two-headed stuffed squirrel, a manhole cover, or a practically new socket wrench set? The possibilities are endless, and without a doubt, you’d discover something you just have to take home.

Once a year this extravagant display of commerce is offered for your shopping and gawking pleasure along 654 miles (and growing) of highway from Michigan to Alabama. The 127 Corridor Sale, as it’s called, brings tens of thousands of visitors to tiny places like Russell Springs, Kentucky. From the first Thursday in August through Sunday, little towns and county seats have bumper-to-bumper traffic, but no one seems to mind.

“It’s like an Easter egg hunt,” says Jami Nathan, who has helped organize the sale in West Unity, Ohio. “People go and look for little things that you can’t get in a store: antique post cards, buttons, first edition books that sellers don’t know they have. The hidden treasure.”

Like so many success stories, the sale began as a dream and a crazy idea. Mike Walker, a Tennessee county official, was searching for a way to lure visitors off the interstates and into his home of Jamestown. Just about every place has a festival, he knew. That wouldn’t get much attention. But how about an outdoor sale? (To this day, Walker thinks “yard sale” sounds too common.) He got a few towns in Tennessee and Kentucky to participate and wrangled a small grant from each state to help publicize the effort. And like that baseball field in Iowa, he learned that if you build it, they will come.

SHOPPING TIPS FOR THE ULTIMATE YARD SALE

 Haggle. Any marked price is just a suggestion. Try offering half, and see what happens. Be ready to walk away.

 If you really like something, buy it. You’ll probably never see the same thing again. And you’re unlikely to turn around and drive dozens of miles back to buy it.

 Be prepared to haul things home. Many shoppers rent U-Hauls or come with trucks and vans filled with packing materials.

 Consider becoming a seller. Some of the merchandise you’ll see was purchased during a previous sale. That box of antique tools you found for $1. What if you clean it up and try to sell it for $25? It happens all the time.

“The first year I had people counting the types of cars coming through. We had 40 something states and Canada represented. It was amazing,” he says, before admitting the obvious. “I probably misjudged how many people enjoy outdoor sales.”

Since then, the sale has grown like kudzu every year, creeping down into Georgia and Alabama, and up across Kentucky and Ohio. It recently reached Michigan, and is marching north. It’s just a matter of time before it goes international, making its way into Ontario, Canada.

Todd Burnett, a Tennessee circuit judge, has been selling at the sale for years. He and his father even bought property along Highway 127 and constructed a warehouse to store their merchandise. He says the people are what makes the experience so enjoyable.

Part of the fun is haggling and hearing the story of an antique: how it belonged to someone’s great-grandmother and was passed down through the generations. “Sometimes it’s true, sometimes it’s not,” Burnett says with a laugh. But it makes a good story to go along with your purchase.

The challenge for a visitor is how to take in this shopping spectacular. There’s no way you can see it all, so don’t even try. The whole idea is to browse and talk to the sellers.

Many people build their visits around
Jamestown,
the sale’s spiritual home. Lodging here and in most the towns along the sale route is limited, so it makes sense to reserve a room months in advance. If you want to stay in Jamestown, consider the
Wildwood Lodge B&B
(3636 Pickett Park Hwy., 931-879-9454,
www.twlakes.net/~wildwoodbed
), where rooms begin at $95 during the sale. Some visitors find hotels 25 miles away, and Burnett has even let stranded travelers sleep in his parking lot.

If you set up base in Jamestown, take one day to drive south, perhaps 30 miles out and 30 back. That approach maximizes your gawking opportunities because sellers set up on both sides of the road, and you’ll get a chance to take a long look on the west side in the morning and on the east side when you return in the evening. The next day you could head north.

Some people like to build a mini road trip along Highway 127. Experienced shoppers suggest not trying to tackle more than 50 or 75 miles a day, making a reservation at a preselected town up the road. A good place to start might be
West Unity,
Ohio, near the northern end of the sale. There’s camping at
Harrison Lake State Park
(26246 Harrison Lake Rd., Fayette, 419-237-2593,
www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks
) from $16 a night and cottages from $75, or motels in nearby Montpelier. Similar types of accommodation can be found at many of the towns you’ll encounter as you continue moving south until your budget, car storage space, or the sale runs out.

As for where to stop, that’s up to you. Many sellers congregate in tent cities, creating mini flea markets, and a chance to maximize your shopping in one place. But between towns, you’ll also see lone sellers. They’re less likely to be professional dealers, and you might have a better chance at finding bargains.

Dining, you’ll soon discover, is almost as much a treat as the shopping. Local vendors spend weeks preparing for the crowd, readying fried apple pies and barbecue dinners. The sale crosses through small Amish and Mennonite communities in Tennessee, so you can pick up delicacies like apple butter, honey, and freshly baked bread. Not only are they tasty but also consider them necessary fuel to power long days of shopping.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Fentress County Chamber of Commerce,
114 Central Ave. W, P.O. Box 1294, Jamestown, TN 38556, 800-327-3945,
www.127sale.com
.

see where the midshipmen train

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

It follows that as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.

—
GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON, IN A LETTER TO THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE (1781)

27 |
Annapolis is about two things: the sea and American history. Often, they intertwine. Since 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy has trained undergraduate men—and now women—here, and the sight of uniformed midshipmen walking around the 18th-century seaport town is a reminder of the service they give to the country.

The free (and recently renovated)
Naval Academy Museum
(Preble Hall, 410-293-2108,
www.usna.edu/museum
) traces the naval history through exhibitions, documents, flags, paintings, and ship models. For information about the academy itself, catch a 75-minute tour ($9.50)—arranged conveniently to end right outside the museum (try to go around noon, when the midshipmen stand in formation for uniform inspection before lunch). The tour begins at the
Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center
(52 King George St., 410-293-8687,
www.navyonline.com
), located at the academy’s Gate 1, one block from the Annapolis City Dock. All visitors 16 and over must have a photo ID; only vehicles with handicapped tags are allowed on academy grounds.