Anderson County

After a long and eventful day, we finally made it to the stop we had been waiting for.  We planned our outing around the Burgoo Festival in Lawrenceburg.  We knew we were going to want to eat while we were there, so we set it up so that we would end up there in the late afternoon.  Mom got her burgoo, but it wasn't all that easy.  I'll fill you in after we cover a little history.

ANDERSON COUNTY BACKGROUND

Anderson County was formed by the Kentucky Legislature in January of 1827 and was the eighty second county formed.  It was created from parts of Franklin, Mercer and Washington Counties.  The county is named for Richard Clough Anderson, a noted Kentucky legislator, U.S. Congressman and  minister to Columbia.  The City of Lawrenceburg serves as the county seat.

While doing research for this post, I have not been able to find much history on Anderson County, but I have found several "claims to fame".  The first of which is, it is the home of Wild Turkey Bourbon.  Wild Turkey has a heritage that goes back over 150 years.  The cantilever railroad bridge running into the distillery was built in 1889 is known as Young's High Bridge  and is one of the oldest still in use in the country.

Four Roses Bourbon, established in 1888, is also produced in Anderson County. 

The City of Lawrenceburg and Anderson County were the sets for several scenes in the well known 1967 film The Flim-Flam Man.  The infamous courthouse scene was filmed at the Anderson County Courthouse.

OUR VISIT

Well, we planned our entire day around the Burgoo Festival.  We finally made our way to Lawrenceburg after seeing 3 other counties earlier in the day.  Mom had talked about getting burgoo all day long!  The entire Lawrenceburg downtown was set up for the festival.  Main Street had lots of different vendors while a parallel street had all the food vendors and there were rides and games set up in a small park.  We wound our way around taking it all in before we comitted to buying anything.  The bad news, we only found one vendor that was selling burgoo!

As you can imagine, after seeing what burgoo is, the boys had NO interest in eating any.  So, mom and I got a bowl to share and the boys got roasted corn on the cob and a hot dog.  We found a spot to sit down and made quick work of the bowl.  It was really good, we were just hoping to sample several different kinds.  But it wasn't in the stars.  After we finished eating, we let the boys play a few games, in the carnival area and then it was time to head home.  Had we known we weren't going to sample several different varieties, we probably would have reversed our route and stopped in Anderson County first.

Even though we were a little disappointed in our meal, the over all trip was good.  We had had a very interesting day, and learned quite a bit of history.  We had already started planning our next outing.  Our plan is to head a little southeast.  Keep an eye out for us!

See you on the road...