Trolley tours begin next week
Published 9:48 am Tuesday, April 30, 2019
With May on the horizon, it’s time for the Bluegrass Heritage Museum’s Trolley Tours to resume.
This year’s tour includes three new stops, including White Hall State Historic Site in Madison County, a stop museum director Sandy Stults had wanted to make for years.
“I’ve tried and tried to get into White Hall,” she said. “For some reason, they didn’t want to open in the evening.”
The mansion dates to the 1700s and the home of Cassius Marcellus Clay, a 19th century newspaper publisher, emancipationist, politician and ambassador to Russia. He was also a cousin of Henry Clay.
White Hall was donated to the state in 1968 and was restored and opened to the public in 1971.
The White Hall trip is the finale this year, Stults said.
The first trolley tour will be May 7 at Hickman House, a former residence and tavern which was built in 1814.
The house, at 31 W. Hickman St., was outside the city limits of Winchester when it was built.
In recent years, it has served as business offices. Danny Neely will lead the tour and give a history of the building, she said.
On May 14, the trolley will travel to the former Trapp Elementary School where Lady Veterans Connect is working to convert the school into a transitional shelter for female veterans.
Stults said Lady Veterans Connect officials will speak to those on the tour while they eat in the school’s cafeteria.
The May 7 tour is free, though donations will be appreciated, she said. Participants should be at Hickman House by 5:45 p.m.
The other tours will leave from the museum at 5:30 p.m., and box suppers will be available for both. Cost for Lady Veterans Connect is $20 and White Hall is $25.
To reserve a spot, call 745-1358.