BLUEGRASS COUNTRYBLUEGRASS COUNTRY

Even if it’s not the May frenzy of the Derby and all the surrounding revelry, Kentucky remains the stronghold of American horseracing culture—and maybe the best place in the world to behold the Sport of Kings. Check out:

THOROUGHBRED ALLEY Also known as Old Frankfort Pike, the verdant 16.9-mile route marks a path to the country’s equine capital. Osage orange, redbud and sugar maple branches weave together overhead, forming a dense, knotty canopy that breaks every few miles to reveal bluegrass pastures unfurling across the land. These fields nurture some of the region’s most competitive young race horses. Note the names Darby Dan, Lane’s End and Adena Springs as you pass more than a dozen farms lined with limestone fences.

KEENELAND RACE COURSE The historic racetrack was founded in 1936 and is the state’s second-most popular track after Churchill Downs. And sure, the Downs has the Kentucky Derby (an annual event that draws, on average, 150,000 attendees). But Keeneland has the Track Kitchen. The no-frills cafeteria primarily serves track staff and horse industry members, but it’s open to the public and, among locals, it’s a hidden gem for early-morning biscuits and gravy and primo people watching. “It caters to everyone who is a denizen of the racetrack environment,” says Ed DeRosa, marketing director for TwinSpires.com, the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs’ official wagering site. “And the sawmill gravy is some of the best I’ve ever had.”

KENTUCKY HORSE PARK Just 20 minutes from Keeneland, this complex is home to the 64,000-square-foot International Museum of the Horse. Sign up for a trail ride or take a seat in the bleachers for the Parade of Breeds, a daily pageant featuring some of the farm’s diverse residents, from the rare Marwari to the iconic American Quarter Horse.

OLD FRIENDS FARM Leaving the park, hook a sharp right and follow a flat stretch of country road until you see a sunshine-yellow cottage with a horseshoe-shaped sign. This retirement facility gives golden years to older race and show horses, including the very dapper Silver Charm. Old Friends’ owner, Michael Blowen, tells farm visitors how enamored he remains of the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, whom he calls “the greatest horse in the history of the universe.”    

Kentucky remains a hotbed of traditional arts, and a home to leading forces in the preservation of “vanishing” crafts. Tap into the vibrant scene at these two cultural crossroads:

BEREA 
Founded as a one-room cabin schoolhouse by abolitionist John G. Fee in 1855, Berea College remains a radically inclusive, tuition-free liberal arts school. Find student-made ceramics, woodcraft, even brooms in the college’s shop. The Berea Festival of LearnShops also hosts 300 sessions ranging in practice from the hammered dulcimer to Shaker-box building to blacksmithing to basket weaving. Many of those same instructors sell their work at downtown’s Kentucky Artisan Center.

DANVILLE 
The former combination post office-courthouse downtown now serves a civic purpose as the Art Center of the Bluegrass, a regional arts hub with exhibits ranging from quilts to contemporary sculpture, plus a full slate of adult classes. August’s Soul of 2nd Street Festival keeps the stories of the city’s Black business district in the present and features speakers like Danville-born Affriliachian poet Frank X Walker.

Kentucky is, of course, synonymous with the most famous bourbon brands in the world. But beyond the big names, a tour of the booming microdistillery scene reveals the craft’s deep roots and future promise.

First, a wise message from the locals: start on a full stomach. A fine first stop: FRANK’S DONUTS in Paris, Kentucky. The strip-mall shop, which opens at 4:30 a.m., is known for decadent 64-cent devil’s food doughnuts. Snag one and a to-go coffee before heading downtown to HARTFIELD & CO. In 1919, the year before the “Noble Experiment” was enacted nationwide, Bourbon County was home to 26 distilleries. Prohibition put an end to them all. Though tiny compared to the big bourbon brands–even the stills they started with hold 26 gallons compared to the typical 1,000–Hartfield & Co. is a big-time addition: the first distillery to actually produce bourbon in the drink’s namesake county in almost a century. 

Just 20 miles southwest, JAMES E. PEPPER DISTILLERY in Lexington pays homage to a Kentucky character, Colonel James E. Pepper. In the late 19th century, this colonel introduced friends with last names like Roosevelt and Rockefeller to the Old-Fashioned cocktail–a simple mix of bourbon, sugar and water garnished with an orange peel. His family’s distillery, one of the oldest in the state, was left to rust in the 1950s. But after a massive restoration effort, it now anchors one of the city’s buzziest districts. 

Continue westward to Frankfort’s CASTLE & KEY DISTILLERY, an architectural marvel also risen from ruins. Originally founded in 1887, the European castle-inspired facility was opened by one of bourbonland’s legends, Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr., but eventually fell into disrepair–the surrounding 113 acres overgrown, the castle collapsed. Although the property has been carefully reconstructed and was opened to the public in 2016, its bourbon is still aging. In the meantime, Castle & Key’s gin, infused with botanicals from one of the many gardens on the grounds, excites the area’s best bartenders. 

Follow Glenns Creek Road to land in downtown Frankfort and pass by the GOOCH HOUSE, the Queen Anne-style home where bourbon ball candy was allegedly invented, now the headquarters of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. Sop up the afternoon’s drinking with a hearty slice of Rick’s Famous Crawfish Pie on a coral Fiestaware plate at RICK’S WHITE LIGHT DINER, a charming-as-all-get-out Kentucky-Cajun greasy spoon. Ignore better judgment and finish with a slice of bourbon pecan pie, then tack a pin in your hometown on the paper map by the window.