I confess right now I am Martha in the story of Mary and Martha and the Savior. I'm the one that is constantly busy with busy stuff like Martha was. Claude and I are retired, that is true. What is also true is that 'retired' does not equal sitting on the front porch drinking lemonade. I even commented to Andie this week that it is a good thing we each have our own car so we can go our different directions and do our different things. Life is just VERY full of STUFF.
Today, we tried to eliminate as much of that day-to-day STUFF as we could and just enjoy ourselves and 'explore' our area a bit.
Our first stop was breakfast at McDonalds. Now, that was NOT the exploring part. I just love 2 plain biscuits and a Dr. Pepper from McDonald's for breakfast when we travel. Claude made sure we had this great start to our day together.
Then we were off to McConnell Springs. This is where Lexington was founded in 1775. I saw a great program on Public Television about this place. Claude participates with Blue Grass Pride. They are a group that picks up where things like Green Peace and all the more radical, large scale green seeking types leave off. They really focus on smaller projects in our Blue Grass area of Kentucky. Through them we get bags and orange vests to do clean-up days in Sadieville. We learned about making rain gardens to collect rain water in spots and grow natural Kentucky plants in those rain gardens. That is the kind of thing they do best.
Well, two of their meetings Claude has attended were held at McConnell Springs. They had a guide take them along the path that runs through this 26 acre historic and natural park. Today would be my turn to become familiar with this area and learn more about the history of Lexington, Kentucky.
First...the history in a nutshell:
- June 1775 - William McConnell and his kinsmen from the upper Monongehela River region had a crude cabin at this spring where they intended to obtain land grants and create a new town. They received news of a 'battle' two months earlier in Massachusetts where the Colonial militia stood up to the British regulars. They named their settlement 'Lexington' after the battle they heard about. This name would stick over the years.
- This area would eventually be purchased and become the Cahill Farm where a creamery would be built.
- This area also had a dam built at it and the Trotter Gun Powder Mill was built to provide gun powder for the War of 1812.
- Over the many years all these farms and other buildings have worn down and then been torn down and the possibilities of this being the industrial section of Lexington grew.
- At one point they were going to fill in these holes of water to build over them.
- Someone, some very wonderful someone, realized this was a place of great historic significance and set in motion the preservation of this little area.
- Today it sits in the middle of the industrial section of Lexington. But when in the park you wouldn't know it except for brief glimpses of the railroad track and a building in a couple of place.
- Today there is a path running through the 26 acres and it is covered with trees. There are markers discreetly placed to keep you apprised of where you are and what you are seeing. A brochure can be picked up at the Visitor's Center with a nice map on the back and pictures and numbered descriptions of the places you are seeing along the path.
- Basically there are three water points of interest. They are Blue Hole, Boils & Final Sink. These are places where the underground water has made its way to the top. They are considered 'artesian springs'.
As we entered the Visitor's Center, they were making wooden bowls. We walked thru this very tiny Visitor's Center and then we hit the path. These are pictures of the path.
All of these interesting plants and berries are native to Kentucky. There is a concerted effort to clear non-native growth from McConnell Springs. The plant with the red stems and the black berries reminded me of a plant that grew in Louisiana. When I was a child and we visited my mother's parent, we would pick these berries and pretend they were food. We never actually ate them. But they were fun for play.
The last picture I labeled as 'Kentucky Kudzu'. It is not really Kudzu. But, if you drive in the south and find where Kudzu has taken over trees and hills, this little vine will remind you of that. We have some on our hill and it constantly threatens to take over flowerbeds Claude built for me. Hence, after seeing it covering the ground here and growing up trees, I'm gonna call it 'Kentucky Kudzu' from this point forward.
All of the previous pictures were taken as we walked from the Visitor's Center to Blue Hole. Now let's look at a few pictures of Blue Hole:
While Blue Hole appears to be a small pond, it really gets its color from being very deep. It is believed Blue Hole is where William McConnell actually had his camping site.
Now we'll walk the path from Blue Hole to Boils:
The rock wall would have been the foundation for the Cahill Creamery that once occupied this area. The large 'elf' peeking around the tree is Silly Claude. The pointy place in the rock is where the water can be seen a bit as it flows underground. Way Cool. The rock face is so we can all remember what Kentucky soil is like. Just a little top soil, a bit of clay, then limestone layer upon layer. When I complain about growing things on our hill in Sadieville, this is why it is difficult.
We are now at 'Boils' in our stroll through Lexington history:
'Boils' is the second spring at McConnell Springs. It is called Boils because of the action of the water emerging from the underground conduit. During heavy rains (obviously we aren't having any of that lately!!), a column of water rises from this spring 24 inches high. The water here is really about 55 degrees and not 'boiling' at all. It is the action of the water, not the temperature, that gives this spring its name.
We'll continue our walk down to Final Sink, the final spring in this series:
The yellow flowers in these pictures were covered with bees. They were totally unconcerned at my presence. I tried to take several close-up shots but all were blurry when they came off the camera. The one purple flower stem is a single blossom like the bed of them growing under the limb of a tree. It was as if someone planted flowers in a flower bed at home so they could cut be and used in vases inside their homes. They were just beautiful flowers.
Final Sink is the third spring we would visit:
Final Sink is a spring you walk down to. The first picture in this series is the Final Sink. The second picture is the rock wall that was part of the dam built here to provide water for the Trotter gun powder mill. The third picture is the stream bed flowing into the Final Sink. The last picture is another of the 'Kentucky Kudzu' growing up the base of a tree.
We have now walked over and beside the underground water system that is McConnell Springs. As we walked back we would walk through some of the acreage and see of other items of interest. The first would be the rock quarry used to get the rocks for the fences, dam and building foundations seen in previous and future photographs.
We followed the path to an huge old Bur Oak tree.
I want to remember that all these stone fences were built by Irish and Scottish emigrant masons from 1830 to 1833. These stone fences are all historic treasures and are found all over this Blue Grass area of Kentucky. They are protected by law. I just love this part of our landscape.
The second picture is Claude walking the 'strait and narrow path'. Well, that is what came to mind and I took this picture to remember that thought.
Now let's take a look at the huge, old Bur Oak tree:
This was a beautiful old tree. It almost looks like the 'tree of life' in the picture. I wanted to get a feel for the width of the trunk as you look at it. Before we left I asked Claude if he would go back and stand by it so I could get the perspective of its size compared to my hubby. Claude decided he would be a 'tree hugger' for this picture. Silly Claude!!
Our next destination in this walk through Lexington history was the foundation of a barn.
Claude said when he visited before, there was less undergrowth and you could see where the stalls were.
We passed another rock wall. This one had one end exposed so you can tell how they are constructed. At the base there is actually two walls of rock leaning against each other. This makes the rock fence sturdier so it will last longer without collapsing.
We have had hot, dry weather for a long while this summer. It has turned our 'blue grass' brown. The water level here at McConnell Springs was low. On the news this week they said that University of Kentucky's Agricultural Farm was growing corn. The heat and dryness have created an interesting phenomenon...the kernals of corn are actually swelling and popping. It is not 'popcorn' they are raising. It is corn to feed people and animals. Good evidence of the heat and drying effects of the weather could be seen in the vegetation as we did this walk. Anywhere the sun was getting to things, and sometimes in the shade, leaves were withered. I took this picture to remember how hard no water and high temperatures can be.
We had one more stop to see as we returned to the Visitor's Center. They have built a pond with rock filters for the water to enter the pond and they are letting it grow into a natural wetlands area. It is in process and looks like a great pond with an observation walk around one side of it. But the plants will grow over time and it will fill in. It'll be fun to watch the changes on future visits to McConnell Springs.
Here are a few pictures of the walk to this man-made wetlands area and of the actual pond and beginning wet-lands development.
The first picture is red stemmed plant I enjoyed so much on this walk. The second picture is walnuts growing on the tree limbs. The purple flower is a weed, pure and simple. It is probably the one causing the allergies I'm struggling with right now. However, it IS purple and I do love it as I see it growing in mass on the hill sides and in the fields this time of year. If you look close at the yellow flowers, you can see the bees working so hard to gather the pollen. The last picture is the pond with the very beginnings of growth around it. Should be a neat place as it fills in.
Now we headed back to the Visitor's Center. We found a few feeders that I wanted to remember for possible use in our yard. One is a feeder to hold corn cobs. The other is a bird feeder but you could hang hummingbird nectar from it as well.
This concluded our first 'exploration' of the day.
Our next stop was to have been Weisenberger Mills. This little family owned business is on the Elkhorn River in Midway, Kentucky. They grind all kinds of flours from wheat, to corn, to other grains, etc., etc., etc. I've heard about them often and have wanted to locate the store and check it out. I did my Internet research this morning and knew where to find the store. Off we headed. We found the store but it was closed. Probably because of the holiday because they have Saturday hours. At least we know where to find it now.
Then we were off to find our third place to explore. Several years ago I found out about Boyd's Orchard near Versailles. I had it on the grid for our Camp Christensen that year. They have a Friday evening fish fry and there is a play land so that seemed like a great ending to an day trip for the grandmonsters. We didn't get to do that possibility because of all the other things we did, but I kept the place and interest in it in my head.
Today we located Boyd's Orchard. We were driving through Versailles, both of us remembered we saw a sign for Boyd's Orchard on one of our other drives thru that city. We were not finding the sign. Then I remembered I carry a Blackberry with Internet capabilities. I quickly checked it out and found the roads we needed to be on. As it turns out we got to the turn to Boyd's Orchard right after I told Claude the roads.
We love Evan's Orchard. We'll still probably go there before we go to Boyd's Orchard. Boyd's Orchard has a larger store and cafe area. Their playland has some different things for kids to play on. But there are so many similarities it really doesn't make sense to drive the distance when Evan's is closer. However, if you were closer to Versailles than we are, Claude and I would highly recommend it as a fun outing. We did purchase an apple pie, apple donuts, and some Vidalia onion & cucumber salad dressing.
Claude had one request for the day. He wanted a steak dinner. He was thinking we should go back to Cattleman's Roadhouse in Frankfort. We were just down Highway 127 from there so we pointed the Jeep in that direction and it found its way to Cattleman's Roadhouse. We both ordered well.
By this time my allergies were in FULL bloom. My eyes were itching out of my head, my nose was running. I was (and still am) a scary sight. But they let us in and we did enjoy our meal. When we left, Claude turned the A/C on in the Jeep to try and keep my sneezing at a minimum and stop my eyes from itching.
This left us one more place to find and 'explore'. Claude had heard about the Elkhorn Winery in Owenton, Kentucky. We set off to find this place. As always, when you are looking for something, it seems to take forever to drive that distance. The return trip is always much quicker even though both the going and returning are the same distance. I was keeping quiet about the distance we drove and finally Claude said, "I thought we would have seen it by now. I haven't seen a sign in some time." I grinned because I was thinking the very same thing. Out came the Blackberry and, sure enough, just as we got close to it I found where we were on a map. It is just a lot closer to Owenton that we thought.
This is a beautiful building, on a hill, with a great view. They really have just a restaurant. Didn't find a tour. But the restaurant is set on the highway side hill. It is a log structure that is really beautiful. It has a huge patio area on the outside that is a covered verandah (all logs). You can sit out there to eat and enjoy your wine with the view of the vineyard below. Here are a few pictures of the vineyard. I took 3 and if you could put them together you would have a panoramic shot from the verandah of the restaurant. The grapes were all covered with netting to protect them. It reminded us of seeing the bananas in Israel and Costa Rica being covered to protect them on the stalk as they grew.
We have been told they hold concerts in the pavilion. It would be great fun to have a nice dinner on that deck and then listen to the music come up that hill. What a great combination of good food, music, and enjoying being outside. Who would want to spoil that with wine and cloud your enjoyment? Some would, but not me.
Well, this completed our 'exploration' day for just the two of us. It was fun finding these things we have wanted to learn more about. We enjoyed our day together. It was fun to just share each others company and learn together.
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