22-JUN-2009
013: Versailles, Kentucky
We were told that much of the movie had been filmed in Versailles and not in Elizabethtown itself, so I routed us through Versailles on the way so we could at least pass through, although quickly, and see what it looks like.
This is a really pretty little town. Reminded me a lot not only of some other neat little Southern towns I know, but also in some ways like some of the small New England towns we pass through on other trips.
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Didn't see anything that was familiar to me--or to Ad, who is the real authority on the movie. But we really only allowed enough time passing through to grab some gas and a couple quick pictures.
22-JUN-2009
014: Rural Kentucky
This is such beautiful country! It was cooler this morning, at least by Charleston standards. The road we chose to take from Versailles to Elizabethtown by way of Harrodsburg took us through the most beautiful, verdant, rolling hills on a country road that made me think of English lanes passing between stacked stone walls.
Beautiful horse raising country. Acres and acres of pasture land enclosed in miles of fences and these stacked stone walls with the vertical stone slabs on the top. And, as Addison observed, all the amber waves of grain growing in the fields.
It was misty and drizzling off and on. Didn't dampen the trip for us today one bit.
22-JUN-2009
015: The Shaker Village
Snorkey and Jennifer told me on Saturday night before Ad and I left on Sunday that we would be traveling close to the restored Shaker village near Harrodsburg, so I located it, and I added it to the route we would take. I'm glad I did. It's a beautiful place, and although we arrived there in the rain and chose not to walk through the entire village, we saw parts of it and talked with some of the local folks there about the place and its history.
It was interesting, and it was such great subject matter for photos. I was sorry it was raining; some nicer weather would have yielded more good images. Still, I managed one or two that I'll be proud of having taken.
22-JUN-2009
016: Elizabethtown
And here we are in Elizabethtown. Home of the Panthers, apparently. We were already fans.
We arrived here with Tom Petty playing in the car from my Ipod (from the soundtrack, of course.) We know movies are all about fantasy, but this little piece of reality--though nothing at all looks terribly familiar--still connects rather nicely to the fantasy. This is a neat place.
22-JUN-2009
017: Elizabethtown
This church with the steeple was one of the first things Ad wanted to photograph. It's right across from The Mulberry on--here's the surprise--Mulberry Street.
22-JUN-2009
018: Elizabethtown
One of the residences on Mulberry Street in downtown Elizabethtown.
No, nothing really looked familiar here either, but the town really does sort of have the "feel" one would expect, having seen the movie. We were not at all disappointed.
22-JUN-2009
019: Elizabethtown
"The Mulberry" really appealed to Ad. It is apparently a deconsecrated church that appears to be a restaurant or club of some type. Great old building with impressive wooden doors.
22-JUN-2009
020: Elizabethtown
We discovered that Elizabethtown, while not known for numerous attractions for visitors, is the home of the world's largest collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia under one roof. So we visited the Schmidt Collection of Coca-Cola Memorabilia this afternoon. Actually, we had a blast. It was cool inside; nobody else there except the woman running the place, and she let us take pictures to our (my) heart's content.
Talking with the woman running the museum (she never gave her name) was fantastic. She was not only a veritable fount (pardon the expression) of information about Coke and the history and the stuff in the collection, she knew a lot about the filming. She not only had been here during the whole filming, but she had even rented a vacant store on Main Street to the movie company who turned it into the shoe store used in a scene in the movie. She was a great talker.
22-JUN-2009
021: Elizabethtown
When the museum woman warmed up to us, she invited Addison and me into the a private back room in the museum--a sort of "sanctum sanctorum," I guess, of the Coke memorabilia set. She flipped on the lights and there was a forty-foot soda fountain built for the World's Fair in nineteen-ought-something or other, made from solid alabaster! It was incredible.
She sold us REAL fountain cokes (okay, Diet Cokes) for a nickle apiece.
22-JUN-2009
022: Elizabethtown
Ad in the bottle room. Easily every kind of Coke bottle ever made, all in one place. He thought it was particularly cool.
22-JUN-2009
023: Elizabethtown
When the museum woman warmed up to us, she invited Addison and me into the a private back room in the museum--a sort of "sanctum sanctorum," I guess, of the Coke memorabilia set. She flipped on the lights and there was a forty-foot soda fountain built for the World's Fair in nineteen-ought-something or other, made from solid alabaster! It was incredible.
She sold us REAL fountain cokes (okay, Diet Cokes) for a nickle apiece.
22-JUN-2009
024: Elizabethtown
Busting out of the side of the museum was a fairly large fistful of Coke bottle. Certainly impressive. At that point in the afternoon I could have swallowed that whole bottle full. (The margarita, later, at dinner, compensated nicely for that.)
More tomorrow. We leave Elizabethtown in the morning for Nashville.
