Stage 10 - Bardstown KY, 50mi (80km)

First of all I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my followers for reading my Blog and also posting some encouraging words of motivation - I can tell, this helps a lot! I hope my page is as much entertaining for you as it is for me having you as my followers.

At 9am I departed this morning from Harrodsburg towards Bardstown – only another 50mi (80km) ride away. There were no service stops on the way. The first village I passed was Rose Hill and the light blue water tank matched the color of todays weather and blue skye. 

The route was less hilly than for some days past and I made good progress, although I still feel last weeks effort in my legs. Dog incidents were few and minor although one was very annoying and in order to keep distance to me I showed him my pepper spray, and he understood immediately. 

Then shortly after I came to the Lincoln Homestead State Park, associated with the family of the President's father. 

After 4 hours of easy riding I finally reached my destination Bardstown. I checked-in at the Motel, took a bath and prepared my belongings (cloths, bottles, supplements etc. for tomorrow. After all I enjoyed a coffee and Subway tuna sandwich outside in front of my room, sitting on a bench, writing my blog and worshipping the sun.

Bardstown (pop. 11,000) is an attractive small town, supposedly one of the hundred best in America. It was founded in 1780 and is the second-oldest city in Kentucky. The area reminded me to Berea, nice homes along the streets and it seems like to economically flourish. The discrepancy with this respect is huge in this state. 

 

However, many early buildings in Bardstown survive and are still in use in the historic center. There is a genuine shopping street with cafes. Bardstown oasts that it is the bourbon capital of the world, with several distilleries in the neighborhood. There are five small museums, located close to one another in the town center. Three have a military theme, with one being devoted to the Civil War west of the Appalachians, one to women in the Civil War, and one to the involvement of people from 'mid-America' in all the country's wars up to 1991). There is a small natural history museum with stuffed animals of North America and cases of fossils and minerals. The fifth museum is an open-air re-creation of a pioneer village of the 1790s with original or restored log cabins and a water mill. I also read that Bardstown has the first Catholic cathedral to be built west of the Allegheny Mountains, the Basilica of St. Joseph, consecrated in 1819. It is now a parish church but in honor of its past retains the title of Proto-Cathedral.