Two Historic Distilleries Are Threatened

[BSS]

Just to let you all know, they have been doing work around Old Taylor. And most of that work looks to be taking buildings apart. They have a crain beside the warehouses across from the castle, with the roof already removed from one of them. There looks to be a lot of construction materials laying around too. I'll try to get some pictures posted sometime soon.

[BSS]

This is one of the warehouses right across from the Castle at Old Taylor.

They are getting a lot of good wood out of this.

[BSS]

They probably have about 150 stacks of wood from this warehouse neatly stacked and ready to go.

[Rughi]

Oh! It looks like they're finally starting the Old Taylor Historic Distillery Visitor's Center. Maybe?

I'm now grateful that I made the pilgrimage last September, before the wrecking ball.

Roger

Edit - Attached is what the rickhouse looked like last Fall. Let's hope this portends positive changes. I seem to remember that the Withrow family owns the Castle itself. Is this true? It would be nice to think that the rickhouse demo is coordinated with something positive at the Castle.

[BSS]

I don't think the Withrow's own the castle portion. I think Mike owns a small lot where his house sits which is behind and to the left of these two warehouses.

[cowdery]

Do they also seem to be salvaging brick? When they tore down Maxwell Street, "vintage masonry" was one of the prime things they salvaged.

[BSS]

You can't tell if they are or not. That picture was taken this weekend. And you can see that they have basically torn the roof off the structure and punched the hole in the side. So most of the brick is still standing. I'll have to wait and see how they go about taking down the walls.

[MDV]

Here are some updated pics from the Old Taylor distillery in Woodford County. As most of you know, the place was sold for salvage and they appear to making moving right along. As of September 2006, a few buildings had already been completely torn down and all that remained were stacks of brick and lumber. View the demolition pics here: http://www.thevarnish.com/distilleries/taylordemo/index.html

Also, last Fall (2005), I was able to go on the grounds of Old Taylor and see some things you can't see from the road - notably Colnel Tayolor's old Gazebo, Spring House, and Gardens... All of these are terribly overgrown, but you can still get a sense of great history. The images from this expedition are here: http://www.thevarnish.com/distilleries/taylorgardens/index.html

Also, I found a print from the KY Historical Society that is currently on display in the restrooms of Bourbons Bistro in Louisville (http://www.bourbonsbistro.com/). They have all sorts of interesting prints, but the prints in the restrooms are of the Old Taylor place and they show the gardens in full attendance for some sort of event. I took a picture of these prints with my cell phone and these poor renditions are available here: http://www.thevarnish/com/distilleries/taylor1.jpg and http://www.thevarnish/com/distilleries/taylor2.jpg

Hope you all find these as interesting as I do...

[scratchline]

Thanks so much for those. The pictures of the grounds are heartbreakingly beautiful. Surely, they will preserve the Castle and Gazebo and Springhouse. Tell me they will.

-Mike

[MDV]

The last I heard (Spring 2006), there were tentative plans to presever the castle and surrounding grounds, but I have not heard anything more recently. If anone else has any info, please share.