Louisville Historic Tours: Showing the Sights to Visitors, Natives Alike
If you're interested in Louisville’s history, if you go ga-ga for Victorian architecture, or if the thought of ghosts haunting several spots in Old Louisville sends a delicious shiver down your spine, Louisville Historic Tours has the tour for you. Louisville Historic Tours typically last from 90 minutes to two hours, and most begin at the Historic Old Louisville Visitors Center. The weekly tours — some by foot and some by bus — are eye opening for visitors and natives alike.
The Mansions & Milestones Tours travels through the 45 blocks of Old Louisville for a look at the country’s largest collection of Victorian homes. Tourists learn about the picturesque St. James neighborhood and the 1883 Southern Exposition that gave birth to it. When taken in the evening, Old Louisville’s gently glowing gas lamps make this tour even more romantic!
Long before Las Vegas was even conceived, Louisville was vying for the title as America’s Sin City. You can find out the details on the Moonshine and Madness Tour, where you’ll learn about Prohibition Era Louisville and about tobacco barons, whiskey kings, moonshiners and horse-racing enthusiasts who controlled the city.
Several ghost tours, some by bus and some on foot, reveal the haunted homes of the Derby City. The Ghosts of Old Louisville Tour (bus) includes a special stop at Central Park, which is particularly beloved by the ghost of Alfred V. duPont, a playboy who helped run regional distribution for the duPont family’s paper and gunpowder business. Did his life really end in an apoplectic fit at his brother’s home? Or was his death the result of a soured love affair, as rumored at the time
All of the tours feature spots in David Domine’s best-selling book Ghosts of Old Louisville. You especially won’t want to miss the lantern-lit tour of the Conrad-Caldwell House Museum in Saint James Court, after dark! Brrrrr!
You can also swing by the Old Louisville Visitors Center and get a copy of the walking tour guide, which includes descriptions of Old Louisville’s salient architecture. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m to 5 p.m.
Posted on Feb 3, 2011 by Ivonne Rovira
