Frankfort, Kentucky

We decided to take a break and travel the half hour or so to Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky.  We'd been there before but it had been years and there were a few things there we wanted to see.

It seems like every time we visit a capitol building restoration is in process.

The capitol is the fourth permanent building since statehood in 1792.  It was built to replace the earlier 1830 capitol which is still standing in downtown Frankfort which had become inadequate to accommodate the growing state government.  A long and bitter quarrel among Louisville, Lexington and Frankfort over which city should be Kentucky's Capital finally ended in 1904 when the legislature voted to spent one million dollars for a new capitol to replace the 1830 capitol on the old public square in downtown Frankfort.  The architect's design was far too large for the square, so the present site in south Frankfort was chosen instead.  Ground was broken in 1904 and on June 2, 1910 Kentucky's new capitol was dedicated.

We'd seen a few signs about Rebecca Ruth Candy so we decided to take a look.

Ruth (Hanly) Booe and Rebecca Gooch were two substitute school teachers who started the candy company in 1919.  After much praise from family and friends for the chocolates they had given during Christmas, they decided they were better candy makers than substitute teachers.  At a time when few women went into business, Rebecca-Ruth Candies was an immediate success.

We went inside to see what it was all about.

We were the only customers inside and we were surprised at how small it was.  

The woman behind the counter asked if we'd like a sample.  So we sampled the sugar free chocolate even though we would have much rather had a bourbon filled chocolate.

Okay, we bought some but haven't touched it.

And then it was on to the Frankfort Cemetery.

I'll bet you're wondering who was of interest in the cemetery, right?

Look at that - Daniel Boone and his wife, Rebecca!

Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes in the United States.  He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky which was then beyond the western borders of the thirteen colonies.  In 1775, Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky in the face of resistance from Native Americans.  By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone.

Boone served as a militia officer during the Revolutionary War which was fought in Kentucky primarily between American settlers and British-allied Indians.  He worked as a surveyor and merchant after the war, but went deep into debt as a Kentucky land speculator.  He resettled in Missouri in 1799 where he spent most of the last two decades of his life.

The view was outstanding just too bad the weather wasn't better.

And a nice way to appreciate the capitol, scaffolding and all.