Mostly, I decided to stay here because I was told it was an interesting place, focusing on the horses that Lexington, KY, is known for, but also because it had a nice, but reasonably priced campground. Frankly, the campground was pretty typical of state parks, but I did spend two nights here and did a ton of much-needed laundry!
I also drove next door and spent a couple of hours at the museum that was part of this state-owned park. I took a lot of photos, but can present only a very few of the 80 or so I took. If you like horses, or just want to know more about them, this is an interesting place to visit.
The museum consisted of two museums, barns, and other buildings where horse-related events are held, but I visited only the main museum and skipped events around meeting draft horses and various demonstrations. Below is the entrance to the main museum.
I thought it was appropriate that they included this sign acknowledgment of the fact that this property was once Indian land.
A racehorse statue in the lobby of the entrance.
A display of early horse ancestors.
And a sampling of horse-drawn carriages. The first one is an early chariot.
And some posters describing the place of horses in history.
A large part of the facility displayed various horse-related trophies. This one was from Russia.
A very early harness racing cart.
Another area displayed horse items from around the world.
And a sampling of the many horse-pulled vehicles.
There was a very large exhibit of over 500 trophies from Calumet Farms. In the 1990s, the original owners had all died or retired and the farm declared bankruptcy. The collection of silver trophies was in the process of being auctioned off when generous donations enabled it to be purchased whole by The Kentucky Horse Park. It is really amazing to walk through several rooms and see so much glittering sterling silver!
Spent one more night in the campground and headed off the next day to Oak Ridge, TN.
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