TuzigootJournal: Danville

Six years ago, on our US 60 crossing, we made a day trip to Danville, KY (about 40 miles SE of Frankfort) to attend a brass band festival. We had been struck then by the charm of Danville, particularly the Centre College campus that was the site of the band festival, then by several blocks of stately old mansions and estates on the highway leading north out of town. I wanted to see those houses again.

Here are some examples.

They're very attractive, but I've got to admit they're not as exceptional as I thought when I first was here. First impressions don't always hold up. Lots of towns have comparable houses and yards -- and we've seen a lot of them on this and other trips.

On the way back to Frankfort, we stopped by a Shaker Village in Pleasant Hil -- highly recommended by folks in Danville, and by Ashley Judd, as I later learned from the website. Here's a picture from the parking lot.

Central Kentucky is known for its "legendary rock fences," as this website calls them. The one shown above at the Shaker Village is probably a modern rendition. Here's an historic example from the website.

These fences are "dry" -- no mortar. They were built first by Irish immigrant stonemasons. The skill was taught to slaves and these fences are sometimes referred to as "slave fences." You see miles and miles of them, though probably only a small fraction of the originals still stand.

We checked out the Shaker Village gift shop, but skipped the tour -- it was getting late in the day and we decided we didn't want to pay the admission fee for a short visit. The Village includes an inn and a restaurant that would make for a pleasant, more leisurely visit.

The next objective on our return trip from Danville to Frankfort was Wilmore, KY. This is the site of the Asbury Theological Seminary which shares a campus with Asbury College. Francis Asbury was a famous pioneer Methodist Minister and most of the Seminary presidents, since its 1923 establishment, have been Methodists, but the Seminary is nondenominational. Lyle Reece, who grew up in our church, St. John's, went to school there and is now a minister in our conference, so I became aware of Asbury Seminary at the time he was a student. I think it's fair to say that the Seminary has a more theologically conservative, evangelistic thrust than other Methodist seminaries.

At the time we drove through the campus, I didn't realize the distinction between the college and the seminary -- they're separate institutions (maybe I should research these topics before I blog them, you think?) -- so I just snapped a picture of this nice-looking building on campus.