List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of notable visitor attractions and annual events in the Louisville metropolitan area.
Contents |
[edit] Annual festivals and other events
- Adam Matthews Balloon Festival
- Corn Island Storytelling Festival [1]
- Highland Renaissance Festival [2] (Eminence), held in June
- Humana Festival of New American Plays, held in the Spring
- Jeffersontown Gaslight Festival [3] (Jeffersontown), held in September
- Kentucky Art Car Weekend [4], held in August
- Kentucky Bourbon Festival (Bardstown)
- Kentucky Derby Festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event
- Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, held in the Summer
- Kentucky State Fair, annual 10-day event held in August at the Kentucky Exposition Center, next to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
- Kentuckiana Pride Festival [5], series of events in June in support of LGBT pride and rights
- National Quartet Convention
- North American International Livestock Exposition, held in November
- Oktoberfest/Oktoberfeast Louisville, held in October
- St. James Court Art Show, one of the top-ranked shows of its kind in the country
- St. Joseph Orphans Picnic, held the second Saturday in August
- Starlight Strawberry Festival (Starlight, Indiana), held during Memorial Day weekend
- WHAS Crusade for Children, fundraiser held over the first weekend in June
[edit] Distinctive locales
- Old Louisville, the third largest historic preservation district in the U.S., which features:
- the highest number of buildings of Victorian architecture in a U.S. neighborhood
- Louisville's Central Park
- St. James Court, famous for the annual St. James Court Art Show.
- The Highlands area, which features:
- Distinctive shops, restaurants and nightlife along Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue
- Cherokee Triangle and Original Highlands historic neighborhoods
- The West Main District of downtown, including "Museum Row" and featuring some of the oldest structures in the city
- Old Jeffersonville Historic District
- Frankfort Avenue corridor, including the Clifton and Crescent Hill neighborhoods — another area with distinctive shops and restaurants
- East Market/Butchertown, featuring a row of art galleries, prominently featured in the monthly "Gallery Hop" [6]
[edit] Historic properties
- See also: History of Louisville, Kentucky
- Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral (Bardstown) — first Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Appalachian Mountains
- Belle of Louisville, the oldest Mississippi-style steamboat in operation on the inland waterways of the U.S. (Built 1914-1915 in Pittsburgh for service in Memphis as the Idlewild, renamed Avalon in 1948, purchased by Jefferson County and renamed Belle of Louisville in 1962.)
- The Brennan House [7]
- Brown Hotel, where the Hot Brown was invented.
- Colgate Clock (Clarksville, Indiana) is the second largest clock in the world.
- Conrad-Caldwell House [8]
- Culbertson Mansion State Historic Site (New Albany, Indiana) is most noted for its annual haunted house located in the mansion's carriage barn.
- Farmington Historic Home, the Thomas Jefferson-designed home of the Speed family, visited by Abraham Lincoln.
- Fort Duffield, a Civil War fort.
- Fort Knox, including the U.S. Bullion Depository and Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor (Hardin County)
- Fort Nelson Park, located in the same spot as the second on-shore fort in Kentucky.
- Galt House, the famous hotel where Civil War generals planned campaigns, including William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea.
- Historic Locust Grove farm, home of George Rogers Clark and site of the homecoming of Lewis and Clark.
- My Old Kentucky Home State Park (Bardstown), featuring the Federal Hill mansion (inspiration for Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home) and Stephen Foster, The Musical [9]
- The Peterson-Dumesnil House [10]
- Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing
- Seelbach Hotel, the famous hotel written about by F. Scott Fitzgerald and frequently visited by Al Capone.
- Spalding Hall (Bardstown)
- Thomas Edison House
- Union Station
- Vogue Theater, a movie theater in St. Matthews that closed in 1998, known for showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show for 25 years. Its sign is being refurbished as a historical landmark.
- Waverly Hills Sanatorium
- Whitehall House & Gardens
[edit] Museums, galleries and interpretive centers
This list may contain repeats from other sections so that a complete list of Louisville area museums can be shown in one spot.
[edit] Art
- Glassworks [11]
- Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
- Speed Art Museum
[edit] Regional history
- See also: History of Louisville, Kentucky and History of Kentucky
- Bullitt County History Museum [12] (Shepherdsville)
- Carnegie Center for Art and History [13] (New Albany, Indiana)
- Corydon Capitol State Historic Site [14]
- Falls of the Ohio State Park interpretive center, a museum covering the natural history related to findings in the nearby exposed Devonian fossil beds as well as the human history of the Louisville area.
- The Filson Historical Society — features a museum and extensive historical collections
- Historic Locust Grove Visitors Center, which includes a museum
- Historic Middletown Museum [15]
- Howard Steamboat Museum (Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- Jeffersontown Historical Museum [16]
- Jim Beam American Outpost [17] (Clermont)
- Kentucky Derby Museum [18]
- Kentucky Railway Museum (New Haven)
- Louisville Slugger Museum
- My Old Kentucky Home State Park (Bardstown)
- Oldham County History Center [19] (La Grange)
- Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey (Bardstown)
- Portland Museum [20]
- Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing Visitors Center, which includes a museum
- Thomas Edison House
More regional historical collections can be found at the Louisville Free Public Library and the University of Louisville.
[edit] U.S. and world history
- Callahan Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind
- Civil War Museum (Bardstown), including the Civil War Museum of the Western Theater, Pioneer Village, Women's Civil War Museum, War Memorial of Mid America and the Wildlife Museum
- Frazier International History Museum — features war weaponry and related historical artifacts, especially focusing on British and U.S. conflicts
- Joseph A. Callaway Archaeological Museum at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
- John Hay Center
- National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution — features a historical museum and a genealogical collection
- Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor (Fort Knox)
[edit] Other subjects
- Louisville Museum Plaza (future)
- Louisville Science Center — hands-on science museum featuring an IMAX theater
- Muhammad Ali Center
[edit] Parks and other outdoor attractions
- See also: City of Parks
Louisville is home to many spacious city parks, several designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as well as forested areas, trails and other outdoor attractions; distinctive examples include:
- Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest (Bullitt County)
- Blackacre State Nature Preserve
- Bridges to the Past [21] (Radcliff)
- Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum
- Central Park
- Cherokee Park
- E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park
- Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area (Clarksville, Indiana), which includes Falls of the Ohio State Park and features the oldest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the United States
- Huber Orchard and Winery [22] (Starlight, Indiana)
- Iroquois Park — features a locally popular amphitheater with shows produced by Music Theatre Louisville
- Jefferson Memorial Forest, in southwest Louisville, the largest municipal urban forest in the United States
- Levee Bike Trail
- Louisville Nature Center & Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve [23]
- Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy [24]
- Louisville Waterfront Park — features annual Thunder Over Louisville fireworks and air show during the Kentucky Derby Festival
- Louisville Zoo
- Otter Creek Park (Brandenburg)
- Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, adjacent to Downtown Louisville and Louisville's wharf
- Riverwalk Trail
- Seneca Park
- Shawnee Park
- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
- Squire Boone Caverns (Mauckport, Indiana)
- Tioga Falls Hiking Trail [25] (Radcliff)
- Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
[edit] Shows and performing arts
This list may contain repeats from other sections so that a complete list of Louisville area shows and performing arts venues and events can be shown in one spot.
- Actors Theatre, producing the Humana Festival of New American Plays, amongst many other productions
- Caesars Indiana (Elizabeth, Indiana)
- Derby Dinner Playhouse (Clarksville, Indiana)
- Fourth Street Live!, a downtown entertainment and shopping complex
- Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium (University of Louisville) [26]
- IMAX theaters at the Louisville Science Center and Showcase Stonybrook Cinemas
- The Kentucky Center
- Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
- The Kentucky Theater
- The Louisville Palace
- Music Theatre Louisville — productions at the Iroquois Amphitheater
[edit] Sports-related attractions and venues
- See also: Sports in Louisville, Kentucky
- Churchill Downs thoroughbred racetrack and the Kentucky Derby Museum
- Freedom Hall
- Louisville Extreme Park
- Louisville Slugger Field, baseball stadium that is home to the Louisville Bats
- Louisville Slugger Museum
- Muhammad Ali Center
- Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
- Valhalla Golf Club, designed by professional golfer Jack Nicklaus
