8 Best Sights in Kentucky Bluegrass Country, Kentucky

Tour the International Museum of the Horse, run in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to viewing the many exhibits on the ancient relationship between people and horses, you'll also be able to get close to real horses. There's a Parade of Breeds, horse-drawn carriage rides, and a 45-minute trail ride around the park—suitable even for those who've never ridden before. The park also houses the American Saddlebred Museum (that's the breed used for dressage). Tours of nearby horse farms are available for an extra fee.

This 18-room brick mansion was the country home of Senator Henry Clay and his family for more than four decades. The tour highlights antebellum Kentucky plantation life and the political achievements of Clay, who served both in the U.S. House of Representatives (as Speaker) and in the U.S. Senate.

Lexington's oldest tour company takes visitors to horse farms, Keeneland racetrack, and historic venues in Lexington. It's an excellent introduction to the area, especially if you only have a day or two in the region.

Thirty-five rolling acres are planted in several kinds of grapes, but you won't mistake this for Napa Valley. As the name suggests, horses are grazing in the Bluegrass pasture just over the fence.

George W. Headley was a prominent designer of jewelry and small decorative art objects known as bibelots. Dozens of his pieces are on display here in a museum on his former estate.

John Wesley Hunt, the first millionaire west of the Appalachians, built this Federal-style house in Lexington's Gratz Park district in the early 1800s. His grandson, John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate cavalry officer. Family furniture decorates the house, which also has a small Civil War museum.

This two-story Georgian house, built from 1803 to 1806, was originally an inn. Abraham Lincoln courted Mary Todd, who lived here with her parents, when he came to visit Kentucky friends. This was the first historic site to be restored in honor of a First Lady.

Limestone buildings dating from the early 19th century have been restored to operation for distilling, aging, and bottling Woodford Reserve bourbon. At the end of the distillery tour, guests 21 and over can sample the whiskey