List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky

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Statues of fancifully painted horses can currently be seen around Louisville. A part of the Gallopalooza art exhibition, these horses honor past winners of the Kentucky Derby.

This is a list of notable visitor attractions and annual events in the Louisville metropolitan area.

1 Annual festivals and other events
2 Distinctive locales
3 Historic properties
4 Museums, galleries and interpretive centers
5 Parks and other outdoor attractions
6 Shows and performing arts
7 Sports-related attractions and venues
8 External links

[edit] Annual festivals and other events

Adam Matthews Balloon Festival
Corn Island Storytelling Festival [1]
Highland Renaissance Festival [2] (Eminence), held in June
Humana Festival of New American Plays, held in the Spring
Jeffersontown Gaslight Festival [3] (Jeffersontown), held in September
Kentucky Art Car Weekend [4], held in August
Kentucky Bourbon Festival (Bardstown)
Kentucky Derby Festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event
Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, held in the Summer
Kentucky State Fair, annual 10-day event held in August at the Kentucky Exposition Center, next to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Kentuckiana Pride Festival [5], series of events in June in support of LGBT pride and rights
National Quartet Convention
North American International Livestock Exposition, held in November
Oktoberfest/Oktoberfeast Louisville, held in October
St. James Court Art Show, one of the top-ranked shows of its kind in the country
St. Joseph Orphans Picnic, held the second Saturday in August
Starlight Strawberry Festival (Starlight, Indiana), held during Memorial Day weekend
WHAS Crusade for Children, fundraiser held over the first weekend in June

[edit] Distinctive locales

The Conrad-Caldwell House at St James Court and Magnolia Avenue in Old Louisville

Old Louisville, the third largest historic preservation district in the U.S., which features:
- the highest number of buildings of Victorian architecture in a U.S. neighborhood
- Louisville's Central Park
- St. James Court, famous for the annual St. James Court Art Show.
The Highlands area, which features:
- Distinctive shops, restaurants and nightlife along Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue
- Cherokee Triangle and Original Highlands historic neighborhoods
The West Main District of downtown, including "Museum Row" and featuring some of the oldest structures in the city
Old Jeffersonville Historic District
Frankfort Avenue corridor, including the Clifton and Crescent Hill neighborhoods — another area with distinctive shops and restaurants
East Market/Butchertown, featuring a row of art galleries, prominently featured in the monthly "Gallery Hop" [6]

[edit] Historic properties

See also: History of Louisville, Kentucky

The Belle of Louisville still serves as the symbol of Louisville in her 90th year.

Vogue Theater

Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral (Bardstown) — first Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Appalachian Mountains
Belle of Louisville, the oldest Mississippi-style steamboat in operation on the inland waterways of the U.S. (Built 1914-1915 in Pittsburgh for service in Memphis as the Idlewild, renamed Avalon in 1948, purchased by Jefferson County and renamed Belle of Louisville in 1962.)
The Brennan House [7]
Brown Hotel, where the Hot Brown was invented.
Colgate Clock (Clarksville, Indiana) is the second largest clock in the world.
Conrad-Caldwell House [8]
Culbertson Mansion State Historic Site (New Albany, Indiana) is most noted for its annual haunted house located in the mansion's carriage barn.
Farmington Historic Home, the Thomas Jefferson-designed home of the Speed family, visited by Abraham Lincoln.
Fort Duffield, a Civil War fort.
Fort Knox, including the U.S. Bullion Depository and Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor (Hardin County)
Fort Nelson Park, located in the same spot as the second on-shore fort in Kentucky.
Galt House, the famous hotel where Civil War generals planned campaigns, including William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea.
Historic Locust Grove farm, home of George Rogers Clark and site of the homecoming of Lewis and Clark.
My Old Kentucky Home State Park (Bardstown), featuring the Federal Hill mansion (inspiration for Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home) and Stephen Foster, The Musical [9]
The Peterson-Dumesnil House [10]
Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing
Seelbach Hotel, the famous hotel written about by F. Scott Fitzgerald and frequently visited by Al Capone.
Spalding Hall (Bardstown)
Thomas Edison House
Union Station
Vogue Theater, a movie theater in St. Matthews that closed in 1998, known for showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show for 25 years. Its sign is being refurbished as a historical landmark.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium
Whitehall House & Gardens

[edit] Museums, galleries and interpretive centers

This list may contain repeats from other sections so that a complete list of Louisville area museums can be shown in one spot.

[edit] Art

A giant baseball bat adorns the outside of Louisville Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville.

[edit] Regional history

See also: History of Louisville, Kentucky and History of Kentucky

Entrance to the Louisville Science Center

Bullitt County History Museum [12] (Shepherdsville)
Carnegie Center for Art and History [13] (New Albany, Indiana)
Corydon Capitol State Historic Site [14]
Falls of the Ohio State Park interpretive center, a museum covering the natural history related to findings in the nearby exposed Devonian fossil beds as well as the human history of the Louisville area.
The Filson Historical Society — features a museum and extensive historical collections
Historic Locust Grove Visitors Center, which includes a museum
Historic Middletown Museum [15]
Howard Steamboat Museum (Jeffersonville, Indiana)
Jeffersontown Historical Museum [16]
Jim Beam American Outpost [17] (Clermont)
Kentucky Derby Museum [18]
Kentucky Railway Museum (New Haven)
Louisville Slugger Museum
My Old Kentucky Home State Park (Bardstown)
Oldham County History Center [19] (La Grange)
Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey (Bardstown)
Portland Museum [20]
Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing Visitors Center, which includes a museum
Thomas Edison House

More regional historical collections can be found at the Louisville Free Public Library and the University of Louisville.

[edit] U.S. and world history

Callahan Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind
Civil War Museum (Bardstown), including the Civil War Museum of the Western Theater, Pioneer Village, Women's Civil War Museum, War Memorial of Mid America and the Wildlife Museum
Frazier International History Museum — features war weaponry and related historical artifacts, especially focusing on British and U.S. conflicts
Joseph A. Callaway Archaeological Museum at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
John Hay Center
National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution — features a historical museum and a genealogical collection
Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor (Fort Knox)

[edit] Other subjects

Louisville Museum Plaza (future)
Louisville Science Center — hands-on science museum featuring an IMAX theater
Muhammad Ali Center

[edit] Parks and other outdoor attractions

See also: City of Parks

The Louisville Waterfront Park exhibits rolling hills, spacious lawns and walking paths on Louisville's waterfront in the downtown area

Louisville is home to many spacious city parks, several designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as well as forested areas, trails and other outdoor attractions; distinctive examples include:

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest (Bullitt County)
Blackacre State Nature Preserve
Bridges to the Past [21] (Radcliff)
Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum
Central Park
Cherokee Park
E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park
Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area (Clarksville, Indiana), which includes Falls of the Ohio State Park and features the oldest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the United States
Huber Orchard and Winery [22] (Starlight, Indiana)
Iroquois Park — features a locally popular amphitheater with shows produced by Music Theatre Louisville
Jefferson Memorial Forest, in southwest Louisville, the largest municipal urban forest in the United States
Levee Bike Trail
Louisville Nature Center & Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve [23]
Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy [24]
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

Louisville Waterfront Park — features annual Thunder Over Louisville fireworks and air show during the Kentucky Derby Festival
Louisville Zoo
Otter Creek Park (Brandenburg)
Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, adjacent to Downtown Louisville and Louisville's wharf
Riverwalk Trail
Seneca Park
Shawnee Park
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Squire Boone Caverns (Mauckport, Indiana)
Tioga Falls Hiking Trail [25] (Radcliff)
Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

[edit] Shows and performing arts

See also: Performing arts in Louisville, Kentucky Theatres of Louisville and Theater in Kentucky

Kentucky Center entrance

This list may contain repeats from other sections so that a complete list of Louisville area shows and performing arts venues and events can be shown in one spot.