Step inside this monumental 1840 Greek Revival Bed & Breakfast for a one-of-a-kind experience.  This property, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, features a lovely tea room offering a menu of special teas and a host of family recipes to tempt your pallet.

Hours:  Monday through Saturday - Reservations Required (First Seating is 11:00am to 1:00pm; second Seating is 1:30pm to 3:30pm)

Group Info:  Group rates, coach parking available

Named for the French word meaning “beautiful mount” because of its location atop one of Harrodsburg’s highest hills, Beaumont Inn combines gracious Southern hospitality, traditional regional food and relaxing ambiance in a setting rich in history.  Built on the site of the Greenville Springs Spa, the building was constructed in 1845 as one of the South’s most prestigious girls’ schools.  The fourth and fifth generations of the same family operate the inn today much as it did when it opened in 1917.  After being summoned to the dining room by the ringing of the dinner bell, you can savor house specialties such as two-year old, sugar cured Kentucky country ham, old-fashion yellow-legged fried chicken, corn pudding and General Robert E. Lee orange-lemon cake.  Afterwards, browse the unique gift shop or relax on the front porch before adjourning to an antique-furnished guestroom where you will experience the bygone days of past generations.  (Wine & spirits available.) 

Hours: Open daily. Reservations required for dining and lodging. 

Group Info:  Group rates, coach parking available

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Dedman Drugstore (c.1860) is a unique Main Street property that retains all of the original cherry cabinetry.  Admire the stained glass windows and cherry paneling, which enclose the pharmacist’s station.  The Kentucky Fudge Company invites you to sit a spell in the café or at the original soda fountain and browse the early drug store memorabilia on display.  A light menu offers soups, sandwiches and more, but the house specialties are homemade fudge and desserts, gourmet coffee and tea and hand-dipped ice cream. 

Hours:  Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.;
Saturday & Sunday, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.  

Group Info:  Coach parking available with advance notice 

Tour Length:  Optional

Owned and operated by Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, the Dixie Belle is an authentic sternwheeler riverboat.  It docks at Shaker Landing, the site where 19^th century Shakers loaded flatboats with goods headed for Southern markets.  Spring through fall, daily one-hour excursions are offered through one of the Kentucky River’s most breathtaking sections.  The river cuts through 400 million year-old rock to form the massive Kentucky River Palisades.  Along the excursion route, these cliffs tower hundreds of feet above the river, creating a majestic limestone canyon, complete with sparkling waterfalls and a close-up view of the river flora and fauna.  

Hours:  May through October, 12 noon, 2 and 4 pm daily.  Private charters available.

Group Info: Group rates, coach parking available

Tour Length: 1 hour

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In the heart of downtown Harrodsburg lies a National Register Historic District with a streetscape reminiscent of an earlier time.  Most of the preserved buildings within this area date back to the 1880s and 1890s.  Many gift and specialty shops, restaurants and activities, all with a regional flavor, are scattered throughout the downtown district. 

Hours:  Most shops open daily 10 am – 5 pm

Group Info:  Coach parking available with advance notice

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HARRODSBURG CITY DRIVING TOUR 488 Price Avenue, P.O. Box 283 859-734-2364 or 800/355-9192

A downtown city tour of Historic Harrodsburg can be arranged for your group through the Harrodsburg/Mercer County Tourist Commission.  Founded in 1774 as Kentucky’s oldest town, the carefully researched replica of Old Fort Harrod is the appropriate starting point for the guided city tour, which encompasses over 200 years of Kentucky history.  You’ll pass by stately pre-Civil War homes, churches and businesses—all prime examples of the various styles of architecture used in Kentucky from the 1700s up to the Great Depression of the 1930s.  You will learn what role the historic attractions and architectural treasures played in the heritage of our people.  A self-guided walking/driving tour brochure is also available at the Diamond Point Welcome Center for on-your-own use.

Hours:  By appointment through Tourist Commission 

Group Info:  Step-on guide available by reservation 

Tour Length:  1 hour 

Admission:  $40 (Payable to guide on day of service.)

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The Kentucky Agriculture Heritage Center is designed to be much more than just a museum to house Kentucky’s rich agriculture history. The Center’s state-of-the-art sustainable building will incorporate facilities to showcase Kentucky agriculture’s past and present with a focus on building a strong future.  The 300,000-square-foot facility will house agriculture artifacts and museum objects, and also highlight Kentucky’s agriculture leaders. Yet, the Center will have a strong focus on education with interactive exhibits, a learning center, research facilities, and an auditorium for lectures and presentations.  The Center is designed with extensive meeting facilities to allow for agriculture conventions or meetings as large as 1,000 or as small as 20.  The Center will also be complete with a full-service food facility with indoor and outdoor season. 

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Built between 1807 and 1830 by Squire Joseph Morgan, this “row house” is the oldest one standing in the State and the first row house west of the Allegheny Mountains.  The Harrodsburg Historical Society owns and occupies the northernmost section, where an extensive research library containing genealogies of Mercer County families and numerous files concerning history and other topics relative to life in Mercer County from 1774 to present may be found.  

Hours:  Tuesday, 10 am–4 pm; Wednesday through Saturday, 1-4 pm

Group Info:  Coach parking available with advance notice

Admission:  Donations accepted 

Address:  220-222 South Chiles Street, PO Box 316

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A full-scale replica of the fort built by James Harrod in 1774 is the centerpiece of this park.  The cabins of the fort are furnished with handmade utensils, furniture, crude tools and agricultural implements used by the pioneers.  Craftspeople in authentic period costumes demonstrate pioneer crafts, and a live animal corral adds to the living history experience.  The park complex also features the Mansion Museum; a Greek Revival home built in 1830.  The museum houses an outstanding collection of paintings, Indian artifacts, Civil War relics, gun collection, music boxes and a Lincoln collection.  Other highlights within the park are a pioneer cemetery, the Lincoln Marriage Temple housing the cabin where Abraham Lincoln’s parents were married and a George Rogers Clark memorial.

Hours:  Mid-March – November, 9 am – 5 pm  (Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas week & weekends in January & February)

Group Info: Group rates, coach parking available

Tour Length: 1½ hours

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A celebrated house of worship, this building was erected in 1800 by a colony of Dutch settlers to serve as the first Low Dutch Reformed Church building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Old Mud is one of only two pioneer log meeting houses in the Bluegrass and its name reflects its construction: framing of sturdy oaken timbers and walls filled with mud mixed with straw and sticks. In 2000, the Harrodsburg Historical Society started a major renovation of this historic landmark that laid the foundation to restore the church to its former glory. An adjacent cemetery contains the graves of numerous early Dutch settlers. 

HOURS: By appointment only—Harrodsburg Historical Society.

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This city park contains a unique piece of public art, which is wholly in character.  The centerpiece for the park is a 14 X 32-foot cascading fountain by local artist Zoe Strecker.  Inspiration for the fountain came from the dramatic limestone gorge of the Kentucky River known as the “Palisades”.  The waterwall is high relief ceramic sculpture, shaped and fired as 8 X 16-inch tiles in Strecker’s studio.  Native floras are featured on the tiles, which are the backdrop for the waterwall, evocative of the spring runoffs that trickle down the face of the palisades at the river.  There is a platform area in front of the fountain, which can be used as a stage, allowing the park to serve as the site of live entertainment on Saturday evenings throughout the summer months.

Hours:  8 am – 10 pm daily

Group Info:  Coach parking available with advance notice

Tour Length:  Optional

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In 1940, a handsome new picture theatre, named The Harrod Theatre, opened downtown and had the distinction of being the first year-round air-conditioned building on Main Street. Today, the beautifully restored building is home to The Ragged Edge Community Theater, a non-profit organization founded in 1983. The theater offers a variety of cultural and community events, including plays, musicals, special programs and children’s workshops.

Hours:  Visit website for schedule of productions

Group Info:  Coach parking available with advance notice

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America’s largest restored Shaker community and National Historic Landmark features 34 restored buildings on 2900 acres of preserved farmlands.  You may wander at your leisure or take a 2½ hour guided tour of 15 buildings.  Either way, costumed interpreters will give an insight into 19^th century life at Pleasant Hill.  See exhibits of original Shaker furniture, hear haunting strains of Shaker music performed live, learn about the use of herbs as medicinal cures, watch the work of 19^th century craftspeople and see farm life as it was 100 years ago.  The Shaker Life Exhibit features changing exhibits, a video presentation and discovery room.  The Trustees’ Office dining room serves distinctive country food and features a Shaker dish of the day.  Eighty-one guestrooms are furnished with Shaker reproductions and are located in original buildings.  This unique and tranquil living history museum reveals the simplicity and integrity of the Shaker people who believed that workmanship should reflect spiritual life.   

Hours:  10 a.m. – 5 p.m., April 1 through October 31; November 1 through March 31, some exhibition buildings are closed & tour hours and ticket prices are reduced. 

Group Info:  Group rates, self or guided tour, coach parking available

Tour Length: 2 hours, includes craft store shopping 

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For over two centuries, agriculture has been the mainstay of Mercer County and the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky.  A new agricultural tour, which includes farming from a historic perspective and tours of two state-of-the-art modern farming operations, has been developed in partnership with Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Anderson Circle Farm and Shawnee Farm.  A visit to these three farms will provide a unique opportunity to view and discuss the past, present and future of agriculture.  During the 19^th century, the Shakers were well-respected for their knowledge and improvements in farming and Pleasant Hill was considered one of the most progressive and profitable farms in the region.  Anderson Circle Farm encompasses more than 6000 acres.  The production and sale of quality beef cattle and over 4000 acres of crop and hay make this farm one of the largest in the Bluegrass.  The agricultural centerpiece is the Sale Barn, nicknamed “Cow Palace” by locals.  Rolling hills and green fences surround Shawnee Farm, a thoroughbred breeding farm and birthplace of two Kentucky Derby winners.  The farm consistently produces some of the highest priced thoroughbred yearlings in the world. 

Hours: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., April 1 through October 31; winter hours vary 

Group Info:  Group rates, guided tour, coach parking available

Tour Length: 4 hours