The museum ticket from yesterday still gets us into two more museums today, so Tony worked while I walked through the Women’s Civil War Museum and Lt. Gen. Hal Moore Museum. Again, these two places housed in the same big building together are packed full of memorabilia.

The women’s Civil War history talked of nursing, spying, fighting while dressed as men among other stories. Many nursing implements were on display along with clothing and explanations of the hoop skirt. At Dorothea Dix’s urging, President Lincoln allowed women to serve as nurses. With 28 surgeons and 75,000 volunteer soldiers, he had little choice in the matter, and this seems like one breakthrough for women serving in the medical profession.

Lt. Gen. Harold Moore graduated from West Point (a hurried, three year program for them because of WWII) at the tail end of WWII and served in Korea and Vietnam. He wrote the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young about his experiences in Vietnam which was made into a Hollywood movie, lending a little fame to Bardstown. Maybe this hometown hero is part of the reason these extensive museum collections are here. The museum that houses Lt. Gen. Moore’s memorabilia also has items from every conflict the US has been a part of, including a section on the Coast Guard fight with smugglers during Prohibition, calling it the Rum War. The destroyers the USCG sailed were returned to the Navy at the end of Prohibition in well-worn condition.

The Heaven Hill Distillery currently holds about 2.1 million barrels of bourbon and whiskey in its warehouses. We could see several of them at this property, but they have others. A fire destroyed the distillery and several warehouses in 1996. They came back from that disaster with the help of rival distilleries (and hard work as no one was laid off and insurance money). Their main distillery is in Louisville, though they maintain a huge tourism presence here with many warehouses.

They have a nice little movie room with six screens to tell the tale of the now three generations of owners by the Shapira family. Many displays explain the process and cultural history of the whiskey trade. We had a lovely hostess to teach us how to taste-test our whiskey and bourbon samples as well as explain the differences in their aging and grain percentages. Her name tag said, “Bernadette, Bourbon Educator”, and what a fun job she has.

The picnic area for My Old Kentucky Home State Park has some evidence of the storms from last week. This Tulip poplar tree was across the loop road and there were four more knocked over in the woods. I needed an evening walk after our delicious Mexican dinner from Jose y Los Tres Amigos restaurant which is very close to our campsite. We needed food after our whiskey tastings (the distillery bar was closed due to a special event) and, of course, we enjoyed margaritas as well. Bourbon, whiskey and tequila, oh my!