| Tourism and Recreation |
 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. |
|
| Beyond the signature events of the Kentucky Derby
and Kentucky Derby Festival (see Sports above), attractions
in Louisville Metro include: |
| Myriad spacious city parks and forested areas,
several designed by Frederick Law Olmsted; distinctive examples
include: |
- Cherokee Park
- Iroquois Park — features a locally popular ampitheatre
- Louisville Waterfront Park and Belvedere — features
annual Thunder Over Louisville fireworks and air show during
the Kentucky Derby Festival
- Jefferson Memorial Forest, in southwest Louisville, the
largest municipal urban forest in the United States
|
| Distinctive locales: |
- Old Louisville, the third largest historic preservation
district in the U.S. — features annual St. James Court
Art Show on the first weekend of October and the Kentucky
Shakespeare Festival in Central Park every Summer
- The Highlands, including:
- Bardstown Road, featuring small, distinctive
shops and restaurants
- Cherokee Triangle historic neighborhood
|
| Entertainment: |
- Premier venues for the arts, such as The Kentucky Center,
The Louisville Palace, The Kentucky Theater and Actors Theatre
(See also Theater in Kentucky)
- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
- Fourth Street Live, a downtown entertainment and shopping
complex
|
| Sports-related: |
- Churchill Downs thoroughbred racetrack and the Kentucky
Derby Museum
- Muhammad Ali Center (opening Fall, 2005)
- Valhalla Golf Club, designed by professional golfer Jack
Nicklaus
- Louisville Slugger Museum
- Louisville Extreme Park
|
| Museums (non-sports-related):
|
- Speed Art Museum
- Louisville Science Center — features an IMAX theater
- Frazier Historical Arms Museum
- Callahan Museum of the American Printing House for the
Blind
|
| Historic properties: |
- 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.)
- Seelbach and Camberley-Brown hotels
- Historic Locust Grove farm, home of George Rogers Clark
- Farmington Historic Home
- Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing
|
| Cemeteries: |
- Cave Hill Cemetery
- Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
|
| Miscellaneous: |
- Kentucky State Fair, annual 10-day event held in August
at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, next to Six
Flags
- Louisville Zoo
- Waverly Hills Sanatorium
- Adam Matthews Balloon Festival
- Kentuckiana Pride Festival, annual events in June in
support of LGBT pride and rights
|
| Louisville also has several important genealogical
collections at The Filson Historical Society, the Sons of the
American Revolution national library and the Louisville Free
Public Library. |
| Nearby, in Southern Indiana, attractions
include: |
- Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area
(Clarksville), featuring the oldest exposed Devonian fossil
beds in the United States
- Howard Steamboat Museum (Jeffersonville)
|
| Other attractions in the Louisville metropolitan
area include: |
- Bernheim Forest (Bullitt County)
- Caesars Indiana (Elizabeth, Indiana)
- Fort Knox, including the U.S. Bullion Depository and Patton
Museum of Cavalry and Armor (Hardin County)
- Kentucky Bourbon Festival (Bardstown)
- 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
- Otter Creek Park (Brandenburg)
|
