Inside the Block
We're shining a spotlight on the vibrant businesses and and unique history of the Warehouse Block in Lexington, Kentucky! Every first and third Sunday of the month we're serving up a fun blend of inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of the Bluegrass region's most dynamic district!
Inside the Block
Cholera, Peanut Butter, and a Drag Happy Hour Walk Into A Bar: The Willow with Erin Goins!
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We sat down with Erin Goins, one of the spirited forces behind the Warehouse Block's The Willow, a women-led, adult-only space where wine and pop-ups make room for focus, friendship, and new ideas. Erin helped create The Willow as a place for connection and collaboration, hosting events that bring the community together in meaningful ways.
Erin is also the founder of Bites of the Bluegrass, the Lexington food tour company she started from scratch. Through her tireless work, she has built a citywide love letter that connects restaurants, archives, and street corners to the people and events that shaped them. She rotates stops and scripts to keep things fresh and inclusive, celebrating Lexington's rich immigrant fabric and spotlighting stories that rarely make the marquee. Her work brings history alive through forgotten heroes, misunderstood icons, and the neighborhoods that tell the REAL story of Lexington, KY.
Okay, cute. We're ready. Okay, sounds great.
Meet Aaron Of Bites Of The Bluegrass
SPEAKER_01Hi! Welcome back to Inside the Block Podcast where we go around and interview different business owners and the warehouse block. And I'm really excited about today's interview because I'm with Aaron Goens of Bites of the Bluegrass. Thank you so much for being on this. Thanks for having me. It's like long time coming for sure. I agree. Get a couple of glamazons that love history. I mean, it's like meant to be, I even wore my aerosols for you today. That's right, sister. I love it. For people who may or may not know you, which is maybe only like one or two Lexintonians out there. Can you tell us your background? Can you tell us how you'd started the food tour Bites of the Bluegrass and how it's moved to the warehouse block?
SPEAKER_00Sure.
Discovering Food Tours And Starting Up
SPEAKER_00Great. So I went on a food tour in Montreal about 12 years ago, and it was such a cool way to connect to the city. I heard all these stories that I never would have known and went to restaurants I never would have tried. And it created such a fond memory for me that we actually went back the next year. And I've now book a food tour every time I travel, right? It's kind of how I move through traveling on the first day so I know what to do from a fun, energetic local to tell you exactly how to spend your time while you're there. Yeah, yeah. And so I've gone on like 50 food tours. And I was sitting on one in Nashville when I looked at my husband and I was like, Why have we never gone on a food tour in our own city? I bet there's so much that we don't know about Lexington. That was a massive understatement, by the way. Oh, I'm sure. And I looked online and there wasn't one. And I told enough people that I was going to start a food tour that I had to. Now here we are. In my background, I um grew up in London, Kentucky, in our south, where the World Chicken Festival is, honey. Yeah. It's like the chicken capital of the world, right?
SPEAKER_01The world's largest skillet. The world's largest skillet. Is it KFC there? Is that why it's the chicken thing? No, I think there are just a lot of chickens there.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, but no, nearby is Corbin. And that's where Harlan Sanders. So we're chicken adjacent. Um just like a wing over. That's right. But when it first started, I have some core memories. They used to pull all the inmates out of jail, all uh chain-ganged up to work that world's largest uh skillet hunting. Love it. Amazing. London. But anyway, I came to UK as we do uh at 17 just the other day. And my degree. My degrees are in sociology, uh, history, and a master's in education. I thought it was gonna be like Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds. That's not really how students change.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you were gonna really change the world? Absolutely. We are, but maybe not with um students.
SPEAKER_00It just wasn't quite what I expected. So I ended up working in a college at admissions. That's where I met Mr. Bites of the Bluegrass. And um I uh he with the business partner opened up some short-term training schools and I ran the admissions side. Uh there were 16 brick and mortars at one point, and of course, I was enrolling and selling around the tour. Uh, and then um it's challenging to work with your partner. I'm sure any rolling my time, I stepped away and raised kids for a while until this whole food tour thing. Uh after COVID, my daughter, I was homeschooling her because I liked waking up late. I found out during COVID, I was like, let's keep this party going.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00But she was putting her foot down about going back to school. We're gonna have the conversation on this Nashville food tour. And that's when I was like, what am I gonna do with all this energy?
SPEAKER_01And here we are. Yeah. So wait, bites in the bluegrass only started during COVID? Right after three and a half years. That's how that's it's that's it. Bites and the bluegrass has only been around three and a half years. I feel like it's like a mainstay in this city. Like you've been around like 10 years.
SPEAKER_00I'm a full-time busybody.
Background, Education, And Early Career
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And that's made up.
SPEAKER_01Speaking of, so there's never a moment that you and I are talking where you're not like, so I've got this project going, and then I'm also headed over here, and I'm doing that. Like, first of all, where does all the energy come from? And then what are all your projects right now at this particular moment?
SPEAKER_00Uh, you know, right now I am focused on um teaming up with the Manchester, Bourbon and Belonging is coming back again for the second year. This is gonna be an annual thing that will bring visibility to bourbon, which is super important. This is put on by queer Kentucky. Cool. And it's northern Kentucky, Paducah, Louisville, Lexington, and so there's a great calendar of events. I'm gonna be holding, uh taking a tour to the distillery district this year where I'll be only queer history. And oh my gosh, I mean, Mary Walker, 1865, she won a Congressional Medal of Honor. Do you know how many congressional medals of honor have been given to women? It's 2025. They've given about 3,500.
SPEAKER_01One to only and it was a Lexingtonian, Mary Walker?
SPEAKER_00Well, she was born in Syracuse, but her entire career was in Cumberland Gap. She worked as a doctor for the union and she was a prisoner of war, she was part of the women's temperance movement, all the things, right? Baddie, she wore men's clothing of the time. She was in fact arrested for wearing men's clothing in New Orleans. And um, when she won
Projects, Pride, And Queer Kentucky History
SPEAKER_00that Congressional Medal of Honor, she was asked, Why do you wear men's clothing? And you know what she said?
SPEAKER_01Tell me.
SPEAKER_00I don't wear men's clothing, I wear my clothing.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, she ended up serving out the rest of her career working uh overseeing the uh prison in in Louisville. So her whole, her whole like work career life was in Kentucky. So I'm calling her ours.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And Kentucky's been home to so many baddies and so many trailblazers. And so this is an opportunity to shine a light on this history that we don't learn uh for whatever reason. I mean, the very first political club was of the Alleghenies was formed by two men who'd fallen in love in the Revolutionary War. Um, and there are stories here from early on. I mean, John Tanner is an account of a young boy who was kidnapped and uh saved and raised by a tribe. And he talks about these native spirits that were all gender within tribes. There's actually a historical marker to this downtown, but there's so much to talk about. And then we have so many icons today who are both brilliant within their careers, but also use their platforms toward activism. And actually, in the willow where we're sitting right now, um, Silas House will be here as part of a Bourbon and Belonging event on October 5th, doing uh some reading from his new book of poems called All These Ghosts, which is already a USA Today bestseller, which is a big deal because poems don't usually make that list. But boy, does he capture our region? Boy, does he really capture Appalachia and place and he shines a light on those stories that haven't always fit in so well here, right?
SPEAKER_01And he's also so wildly humble. Yeah. I know it's kind of weird. It's like you'll see him out and about, and you're like, hi, and he's just like, hey, you know, he's like a normal person. Like, you're so talented.
SPEAKER_00Like, how are you normal? That's the only reason I've gotten here today. I pass him on tours all the time, and I'm the crazy woman who over the last few years has been like, Salah Shouse, by the way, I just read your poem about soup beans when we were at Zim's Cafe. Um yeah, I just kind of stalk people into um as you do. Um, yeah, to doing things with him because I greatly admire him. And so many others, like John Coleman, who of course you know, and of the Bluegrass Trust. Yeah. Ernesto Scorsoni, who was so pivotal towards um the bar complex, LGBTQ plus rice. Right, I'll be there tonight actually for Lexi Love. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that thing is a time capsule in itself.
SPEAKER_02Definitely.
SPEAKER_00So there are just so many important stories that need to be told. That's what I'll be doing. Helen Ann Basket will be waiting for us at the end to march us, shuttle us down to the lost palm for a drag happy hour.
SPEAKER_01Oh, fantastic.
SPEAKER_00So that's like top of mind. And then, of course, here at the Willow, I um love to bring in community members to host events that both encourage folks to come in and make a new friend, maybe learn a little something and drink some wine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So the Willow, I think, is one of the warehouse block's greatest assets. And it's how long have y'all been open? Six months? So since March. Yeah, oh, not even. Okay, so or maybe about that. Yeah. So what's so great about it is that not only is it such a great community spot, like a co-op, you can come and work, and there's obviously wine, there's coffee, but like the events, I think, really set it apart too, because you can have your own here, right? You can have like something you were just we were discussing off camera how you have you're inundated with the amount of emails of people that want to bring and do their own things here, but you guys are hosting your own events too, yeah, with like a very particular, you know, focus on different community-driven things. So there's not really anything quite like that in Lexington.
SPEAKER_00Right. No. Um, I I guess something that would be close would be the Grove. And of course, that is because Avina Kylie is the kindest, most collaborative, inclusive person. I know, and a dear friend because of it. But yeah, I uh I'm totally inspired by Avina and my other business partner here, Danny Dunmeyer. And Ray is the shy partner, but that's Avina's brother, who is uh plays an incredibly important role, both here and at the grove. I'm bit Avina and Ray, it's their baby at the Grove. And they're always thinking about how to include other people and work together to make something great. And so I'm just happy to be part of this. But this is Avina's vision. She wanted to bring something that was wellness to wine, and nobody does a space like Avena. She has this beautiful eye, and she's turned it into this tropical jungle and where you just walk in and feel at home. And that's because um it's intentional. We want you to feel at home. Yeah, uh, and Danny is brilliant, brings her own piece to the table because she comes from a background of wine. She grew up in California and she's um a professional dancer. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So she I recently learned this, like a throw dancer.
SPEAKER_00She has her own boomin' business called First Dance Lexington, where she helps people learn how to dance for their big day. She'll actually she hold some classes here, First Dance Foundations this Sunday is Sway to Slay. Yeah, oh I love it. Um, but yeah, and she does a great job like um managing the bar and working with Renee Brewer, who of course is a Somalier in town. We have always loved wine and market, and so they work together to bring in the best boutique wines and keep things fresh around here in that way. I kind of handle the event side and the private rental side, and Vina manages a lot of day-to-day and wellness and the aesthetic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, it sounds like it's like a really great team to work with. It is.
SPEAKER_00I would be spending my time with them anyway. Yeah. So we might as well open up a business together. Um I would be drinking wine with them somewhere.
Silas House, Community Icons, And Activism
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Might as well be here. Might as well be here. And I love thinking of new ways to bring people together. I love connecting people. If I had a special skill, that's what it would be. Oh.
SPEAKER_01And I think you're Lexington's favorite extrovert for networker.
SPEAKER_00Very sweet. I definitely have to say so many words per day. Absolutely. So all these things a quota. Yeah. All these things kind of lend to that. Yeah. And um, and I love the warehouse block so much. You know, Chad called me. I don't know. I think I've been over here for a year and a half or two years with a tour. And it's because Chad called me and said, Hey. You should do one here, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, uh, I'm down here on the warehouse block. Yeah. I would love for you to. And he and his and his wife Jill came on a tour. I remember it. Actually, we went to Jefferson Street that day because all the downtown tours, uh, I want to include everybody who wants to be included. And so we go to different restaurants every day. It's a horrible business model because I have a bazillion scripts.
SPEAKER_01I was about to ask how and in what ways you like to choose those things, but yeah, you keep going.
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, it's a bazillion scripts. So tour guides have to memorize a lot, which there are seven of us now. I'm so lucky to have a talented team of crazy professors and you know, people with theater backgrounds, their history backgrounds. So they're people who can do that um and and deliver it in an entertaining way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00So that you don't feel like you've gotten a history lesson. Yeah. You just like gossiped about stuff that happened for a long time, which is all the history really is. Like an organic.
SPEAKER_01It's like we're just walking and talking. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it'll like I said, it just totally allows you to see Lexington in a different way. Like when I'm walking down the street, I'm seeing Henry Faulkner with his goat or sweetie in the breeze. I hear her heels clicking. Yeah. Yeah. It just and it just creates a real pride of place experience. And that's something that I didn't expect would happen uh in starting a food tour. I never thought anybody, I thought maybe I'd sell a couple tickets occasionally. Yeah. I never thought we'd tour 5,000 people in a year, which is what we toured last year.
SPEAKER_02So crazy.
SPEAKER_00And have to do more. Um, yeah, I just think of new ways to to I just think about experiences that I'd want to go on and and create them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So you started with downtown. Yeah. And then that branched to the distillery district. Yep. And then that branched to warehouse block. Yep. So those are your three areas.
SPEAKER_00And then there's a haunted tour, but yeah, we're in the downtown space. And then I do take people out uh to Woodford County a lot. I love this whole like Kentucky experience kind of thing where we do bourbon, horses, and culinary. And of course, the go-to for that is Chef Wita Michael. Uh, she also brings me a great deal of inspiration. I I feel so grateful to live in a community with people like Weita, who not only is the Queen of Kentucky cuisine, our hoke kind of, but she's also this incredible community builder. And as she has this huge platform, she takes everybody along with her. Yeah. And I'm one of those. Yeah. Uh, she has just got more grace in one pinky than most rooms put together. And I love that she's a midway girl. I love that she's a midway girl. And there is something special. I just got chilled when I was thinking about it about sitting on the porch at Holly Hill Inn. Yeah. Okay. I mean, talk about capturing place, and it's like there's like glitter in the air. There's just like sunbeam
Building The Willow: People And Vision
SPEAKER_00that comes through the trees, and the birds start talking to you. It's just a strange magic.
SPEAKER_01Ethereal.
SPEAKER_00And it's, I mean, it all makes sense. I mean, it's so storied in itself. And um, it's long been this place dedicated to hospitality. Honeywood is named for Honeywood Parish. She was the last person to live there before uh before it became um as an inn. And her granddaughter Amy lives right behind it. That's Wita's best friend. We've right next door. She's about 10 steps away in this old cabin. And it's just so authentic Kentucky and so authentic Wida. And it's a place where you slow down and really savor what's so nice about where we live.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So Did that answer the question? No, no, no. No, I love it. Now that's this is just like what I like about this is these are our usual conversations. Because we're like, let's cover a billion topics in like 10 minutes, rapid fire. Um, so let's go back to the warehouse block though. So, whenever Chad and Jill had reached out, you were like, Yeah, let me go ahead and read what it what interests you about this area. Can you give us like some snippets of what would be on the tour? And obviously, not spoiling anything for people that want to go on this tour.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Just you never know what we're gonna talk about, to be quite honest on the day of.
SPEAKER_00Um, I'm always looking for a new rabbit hole to go down. So it was a perfect call to action for me to see what was doing down in the warehouse block. Heck yeah. I didn't know any of the history, but then you start reading about like National Avenue and all the cholera bodies that were dug up and building that. Then you start looking into uh what all these buildings originally were, and you start hearing about safe rooms and gas-triggered vaults, and yeah, then you then you're like, I wonder what is how did that flat iron building get here? Like, what is a flat iron building? How did that come to be? And then you learn about A. G. Payne and this guy who created a husky tonic that was saving people's lives, and then John G. Epping, and it it just I was excited to tackle some kind of new history. It feels like a fun new project and like putting a puzzle together. I'm sure you probably I mean, this is the same kind of thing you do, right? It's fun to like piece it together, right? It really is, and it's just so fascinating to me to uncover these stories and be like, how did I not know this? And now I have to tell everyone as I run into you at Publix or wherever you're going to probably hear about John GFing. That's right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it was so fun when I started working with the walkers as well, because it was, I was like, yeah, no, let me like do a deep dive on the history of this area. And because and I felt like it was like uncharted territory. No one has really looked into it, even though I personally think of it as very close to downtown, if not like down. I mean it's downtown adjacent for sure. And it is me too, because I you and I live so far out. I'm like, anywhere in that central area is basically downtown. It's at the circle drive in that circle four. Yeah. But it's it was like nobody has given it the attention that it deserves because it's not necessarily like, you know, I've said this before too, like the sexy versions of history, like horses and bourbon. And it was like, this is an industrial corridor, but it also has like all the fun things that make up, you know, great stories as to like how our building was really, I mean, how our city was really built. That's right.
SPEAKER_00It's built by this area. And I love, I've heard you talk about that on like some podcasts. That is exactly right. You're right. All the bricks were coming from right down here. And there are so many important neighborhoods that surround us, of course. East End neighborhoods, of course. And the racetrack that stood here in 1826.
SPEAKER_01No, and people don't realize like that, you know, that ended up being Keeneland, right? They moved. That's right.
SPEAKER_00And those KA posts don't stand for Keeneland Association, they stand for Kentucky Association. That 65-acre track that stood just to stone stow from here.
SPEAKER_01Basically, like where JIF is, right?
SPEAKER_00It's actually where the Isaac Murphy Memorial Garden is. Okay. That was the edge of it. And so you go back, Race Street and all that, all those streets are named for the 65 acres that once stood in that spot and opened in 1826. And of course, that limits to all the stories of the black jockeys who absolutely dominated the industry before being pushed out by Jim Crow. And Jimmy Wingfield is my gosh, that's my most recent like rabbit hole. And tell us. Okay, I will. Okay. So Jimmy Wingfield is the last black jockey to win a Kentucky Derby before the writing was on the wall about segregation. And that was in 1902. He's also one of only five jockeys to have won back-to-back derbies. And so by this point, um, he had made a handshake deal with a trainer that he ended up backing out on. Between that and Jim Crow, he knew that the writing nobody was gonna hire him here. He was married to a woman named Edna and he actually lived on Goodlow, which is right by DB8
Why Adult-Only Space And Daily Rhythm
SPEAKER_00Kitchen, just around the corner, right? And so he's like, I gotta do something. So he bought a one-way ticket to Moscow, and he had his huge career there. He won four Moscow derbies. He was earning $100,000 per per year. And that day's money, he owned a room at the National Hotel, which is like the finest. He employed a white butler, ate caviar for breakfast, drank vintage wine. Well, hell yeah. And he even adopted um uh a young girl from Russia. And Edna ended up raising her in Lexington. And there's no real I haven't come across. If anybody knows, please tell me what happened to her. Like there's no like record. And if we're not talking about this stuff, as you and I do, and so many in our city, right? Nobody dies until you're done saying their names. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And Jimmy Winklefield is a particularly important story because there have only been two books written about him, and historians rarely talk about him, and there's nothing in Kentucky that celebrates him. But anyway, back on track. So now he's in Moscow and he's having this huge moment, right? Things are going great. And he marries a Tsar's daughter or some nobleman's daughter. He has a couple kids, but then it's 1917 and the Bolsheviks roll in. So now he's guiding 250 horses and all these noblemen on an 1,100 mile trek through the Transylvanian Alps to safety in Warsaw, Poland. And this is not easy, by the way. And it's and if you look up Jimmy Wingfield, you'll see so many different pictures of him looking like kind of fringe and looking like wearing this big red. Russian like fur cap. Like this guy like went through six countries and made a name for himself starting over every time. I mean, it reads like Homer's Odyssey. So now he's in France by this point and he's opening stables. He's kind of trying to go in retirement. He has a son who's working as a jockey. He marries a baroness. He was also a major ladies' woman. It's right about this time that he has um, or a woman's guy, uh, he has this Hungarian side piece he fathers twins with, and he won't claim them. So she actually shows up to shoot him. His son like blocks the bullet, it hits his elbow. I mean, what? So now he's in a movie. Things are going great. And now Hitler rolls in and takes his stables. He starts all over again. He's in little Jamaica. He's not got nine bucks. His son is doing well on tracks in the U.S. He's kind of serving as a consultant. And in 1961, he's invited back to the Derby. It's the first time since 1902 that he's attended. And they're actually throwing a dinner in his honor at the Brown Hotel, Sports Illustrated. And he and his French daughter arrive and they're denied entry at the front door. They tell them that they have to go in the back door. So he refuses and they eventually let him in. But he ends up dying in France at the age of 93, I believe, 90s. But it was his wish the whole time to be buried in Kentucky. In fact, six countries offered him citizenship because everyone wanted to claim him. But he always said he was a Kentucky boy. He had been born in Chilesburg and his mother had been enslaved to Henry Clay. But he died in his sleep and no one carried out his wish. But where is he buried? He's buried in France today. But 30 years after his death, he was finally inducted to the National Jockey Hall of Fame, and the Belmont, Belmont Stakes, runs a race in his name. But that's it. Kentucky. Let's do something for Jimmy Winkfield. Absolutely. And so yeah, I feel like it's really important to tell these stories.
SPEAKER_01I was going to say there's got to be so many more like that.
SPEAKER_00And well, and thank goodness for people like Yvonne Giles, who really takes care of this history, particularly at African Cemetery number two. Yeah. Where Oliver Lewis is buried, who was just 19 years old when he climbed to top mighty Aristides, May 17th, 1875, at the first running of the Derby. So all those stories. And then you got Mentel Park as a whole other thing.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00I desperately want O'Mary to come here first. 1000% off Broadway at the opera house. I am
Tours, Scripts, And Team Of Guides
SPEAKER_00DMing Cola School. I've already done it. Oh Mary, me either. Yeah. I gotta get my data out. I'm doing it every day. Yeah, yeah. You have to like let's work off. Yeah. Um, because she was just born steps from it, and of course, grew up on Main Street, but she spent so much time at Mentel Park. This was a sprawling piece of land that was owned by Mary's like great-great aunt. And she went by Miss Polly, Mary Russell, Todd Wycliffe. And she's tied to an interesting piece of history with Alfred Francis Russell, who was born enslaved on the corner of Second in Jefferson, went on to be the 10th president of Liberia. That's a whole other track. And Abraham Lincoln was involved in a very important court case that really lit in fire under him to run on an emancipationist platform. But Mary was trying to escape her stepmother, Betsy Humphreys, and she became one of 15 kids. So she was down here hanging with Charlotte, who had come here to escape the French Revolution. And her Mary's aunt, who had so much money, she was the largest landowner, woman landowner in the state, said, I'll give you this. Just open a school. And it was a very formal and a very fun school. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Was it only for women, right? Uh, you know, I don't know. I guess it was. That would make sense. So Zach Leonard, who's with the Bluegrass Trust, has done a ton of work on mentel.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I want to know. I because I haven't done a huge deep dive on Charlotte. She was a very handsome woman, that's for sure. Yeah, very handsome woman. She was. But you know, this really I'm I would imagine it shaped her in a big way because Charlotte had grown up with, I think her dad was um a doctor in the military. And I've read that he would like bring a corpse home to like put her in the closet with it to make her hard, and we'll like have her swim the English channel before breakfast. Like she was not your average, like Wilkine flower. Yeah, I wouldn't imagine. Nor was Mary Todd. Right. You know, and I think that she really let her know, shaped her into becoming this outspoken person. And she had all of these years of formal training, which was very unusual for a woman at the time. And Mary famously told Henry Clay when she was nine that she wanted to live in the White House one day.
SPEAKER_01I know.
SPEAKER_00And you know, would Abraham Lincoln, uh a guy with little education and no money, would he have achieved all these political platforms without a good woman?
SPEAKER_01A really good partner that was saddle about everything. Right.
SPEAKER_00And when he won the presidential election, his the first round, he ran around the house screaming, Mary, we we did it. We did it. We there are a lot of accounts that say quite literally that's what Abraham meant that he always recognized he wouldn't have done it without Mary Todd.
SPEAKER_01I recently went to Washington, DC, and I went to the Ford's Theater and then across the street to where, you know, the the row house where he had died. And there's very little about her in either spot. And I'm like, well, we're doing a better job of that in Lexington, of course, but it's just sad because of course she was a major part of him and his legacy. And I don't know, I get particular about how history is presented, especially with women.
SPEAKER_00I do too. And you know, Mary had such a tough life, and she's been vilified throughout history. I mean, she was called a menstrual hellcat in and literally a menstrual hellcat. I'm stealing that.
SPEAKER_01That's that's mine now. Yeah, you menstrual hellcat. Um that'd be a good band name. You and I you and I should start a band. That's called the Minstrel Hellcat. Oh my god. I could play the tambourine. We only play one, we only play once a month.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it. No one's gonna ask for an encore. I don't have a great singing voice. No, but yeah, she was totally vilified all throughout history. And you know, I suppose be careful what you wish for because she gets to the White House and there were mushrooms going out of the ceiling, like yeah, like decrepit, right?
SPEAKER_01Totally.
SPEAKER_00And Abraham Lincoln was the only president to half of the country. The Union army was on the White House lawn to guard it every day. It was nonstop assassination attempts. Um, her son Willie died of typhoid fever in the White House because he contracted it from the water because those boys
Warehouse Block History And Hidden Stories
SPEAKER_00didn't have bathrooms out there.
SPEAKER_01No, it was from the water.
SPEAKER_00Like this wasn't like some lavish life that was being that is now. Whereas here, the Mary Todd Lincoln home, if you visit it, you will see the testament to the amount of wealth that the Todd's had. I mean, they were stature honey. Bluegrass Tavern is where Mary Todd's father owned a grocery store until he died in the cholera epidemic of 1849. We had our own water problem here at Town Branch. But um, but you know, not only did she add silver, hearse was monogrammed. Uh, and it she lived a very torn life, just like we're living in politics today. Um, her father was elected by the emancipationist wing of his party, yet he owned one slave for every person in his house. She had several brothers who fought for the Confederacy, and then you had Mary, who married the guy who pinned the Emancipation Proclamation. So she was never, she never fit in in the South. She was never part of the union. She was just kind of in no man's land. And her best friend in the world was Elizabeth Keckley. And even there, she it all fell apart with the old clothes scandal when poor Mary Todd was having to sell everything, including her dirty drawers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Literally.
SPEAKER_01It was her own son, her like one surviving son that was the one that was like, Yeah, we need to put you in a mental institution. Took her to court. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so Mary Todd was holding seminars in the White House. What of it? She had lost three of her four sons.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean and witnessed her husband's murder. Died in his arms. Covered in blood. I mean, she desperately wanted to. She's crazy. She's she's really sad about this whole situation. It's like, what are you doing? Give her a cyber yet.
SPEAKER_00Right. And, you know, she's criticized for all these shopping benches. Uh, let's keep in mind that Donald Trump is turning some room all gold right now. Like, there's not a first lady who hasn't come in and redone things. Jackie O was praised for it. But yeah, but Mary is the one who was like, oh no. Well, well, she was vilified for buying 200 pairs of white gloves. But she and Abraham shook the hands of every person and greeted everyone for every ball. Maybe she had the good sense to understand germs. Yeah. But one key thing that happened within Mary Todd's life that I think allowed her for her son to successfully have her locked up, which she proved her sanity in a second trial. But she had actually been thrown from a carriage on an assassination attempt, which has kind of been skipped over in history. Yeah. Abraham was not in the carriage with her that day, but she was thrown and she had this major head trauma, and she was treated for all these migraines from that point on. And she was treated with hallucinogens, and it absolutely affected her brain chemistry. Sure. So yeah, girl was probably out a little bit. Who knows what she was taking? She got a lot on her plate. That's right. And so her her son Robert um was able to prove her insane, and she was locked up, and that left him in control of her finances. And what she had left, he bled her dry. And when Abraham died, they gave her one more year's worth of a president's salary, and that was it. I mean, Mary had no way of making money. And yeah, we're coming out of the Civil War, like nobody is rolling in it. Right. Uh everything's pretty exhausted. And it's not another thing. Even the Todd fortune from before. Yeah. Yeah. She definitely was to the point where she had to liter literally sell the clothes off of her back. Yeah. And so now she's out. She proved her sanity in a second trial. And of course, while being in um while being under a court order in this situation, she didn't, nobody was giving her these drugs anymore. And she became quite lucid and sane. She was fine, right? So now she's out and she calls her friend Elizabeth and is like, I need to cash some stuff in. And so she says, please meet me in Washington at this hotel. I'm going to be in disguise. She had checked in under some, I can't remember the name. We need to look it up. It's some like it's like Susan Jones or something. I don't know. Some like super common name. Mary thought she had it all figured out. And she set up this big estate sale where you come into the hotel and buy things, like literally her pantaloons. Like she was selling everything. But Mary had on like a veil and she was using like some kind of like golem voice. Like wow. And people quickly realized it was Mary Todd because a lot of her jewelry had her name on it. Oh, girl. No. So now it turns into another situation. Yeah, it's a scandal. Yeah. Right. And Elizabeth goes on to write a book to try to kind of repair some of that. And in the end, it just drives an even bigger wedge. And the two of them never even spoke again. And then, of course, cute all the stuff about Abraham Lincoln likely being a gay man. And then I was sharing a bit with a man. Right. I'm very sympathetic toward Mary Todd. Absolutely. And I have no doubt that she probably did want to be a cabaret singer. I mean, Lily loved the limelight. She loved having her own voice. Yeah. And of course, that was tough for her time period, even today. And they're
Kentucky Association Track And Black Jockeys
SPEAKER_00often vilified for having their or being too loud or boisterous or in your face. You've heard that. I've heard it in my life. I'm tall and loud and take up space. There's nothing I can do about it. Same. Um but and I have to try to be mindful of that, especially in situations where I want things to go my way. Yeah. To try to be a little softer.
SPEAKER_01But do you ever not get your way, Aaron? Rarely.
SPEAKER_00I don't like that. I know. No. Um, I I am aware enough that things shouldn't always go my way. For sure. Um, but I uh I do love um a gal and spaces where women could be themselves. Absolutely. And we're sitting in one of those right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I know. The Willow is such a testament to I don't know, just female empowerment. I mean, I know Avena's brothers, Ray, is involved in the mix, but like this is women-owned. I mean, this is a collective.
SPEAKER_00He's very, very shy. I know.
SPEAKER_01He's and he's so precious. I came in one time.
SPEAKER_00He has the lovely wife, Kelly.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and he's uh he's always like moving the plants around. He's like doing the heavy lifting, you know, like bless his heart. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If anybody's wondering how all this greenery stays alive, it's because of our gardener. And he's very great. Thank goodness. Ray is absolutely lovely and uh a huge champion of women. I think he loves nothing more than to just support well.
SPEAKER_01We love a man that supports women, brothers, partners, otherwise.
SPEAKER_00And that's exactly what we champion here. Um, to the point, it is very funny. Whoever you are, that's so sweet. Somebody just sent a DM and said, Is it okay if I bring my husband tonight? Are men allowed? I love it. Men you are allowed. You're allowed, you can come in. But uh at the same time, we are intentional about creating a space for women and hosting topics that um that appeal to uh.
SPEAKER_01Well, I also think it's cool too that you have, you know, it's there's sort of like an age limit to it's not really like a kid spot, you know. It's supposed to really be more for like adults, and that's kind of different for like I think a lot of places are leaning into like the kids' stuff or even like pets. Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so I have kids. I have dogs. Sure. In fact, I'm gonna run my corgi in the wiener dog races Sunday, which is like amazing.
SPEAKER_01I didn't know if I was gonna go or not, but now I'm going.
SPEAKER_00Well, she is down, she's lost six pounds in training, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Training for the wiener dog races, yeah, as a corgi dog.
SPEAKER_00And just in general, she's a Haas cat. She's a big girl. Yeah, but we've run before. I love it. It is such a corky tradition here, and all the money goes to the Humane Society, which better cause. Perfect. Uh and Red Miles, the second oldest chariot race track in the nation. It's so storied and cool in itself. I love Red Miles. There's yeah, there's no better
The Epic Life Of Jimmy Winkfield
SPEAKER_00day that, and now you can gamble and everything. I said we gamble on the corgies. Absolutely. And there's a giant corgi trophy at stake. That's what we're dreaming of.
SPEAKER_01So it's she's only against other corgis.
SPEAKER_00Correct. Gotcha. So corgies are wiener dogs, and the uh so you got docs and run, corgi run, French Bulldogs have been brought in the mix for some reason, which I support. And then also there is a rescue, and then there's a rescue run for dogs under 40 pounds. Okay, cool. But now there are so many dogs that show up, it's like a five or six hour thing. But food trucks, there's like so much to do, and and red miles activated in every way, so it's a really fun Sunday. Um, I don't even know what we were talking about.
SPEAKER_01So the decision behind kind of like being more adults only, no dogs, no kids.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what's wrong with having an intentional adult space? Yeah. Um, so in the morning when we open at nine, and that is uh we sort of drip coffee from the greenery, which is owned by Aaron Hilton downtown at the Grove. We sell uh little individual fable charcuterie uh trays that are uh fable is owned by Lauren Miller, who's nestled within Harvey's, and she makes these beautiful spreads.
SPEAKER_01So pretty.
SPEAKER_00Then Natalia is this awesome Dominican baker who's over at Greyline Station.
SPEAKER_01I love her pastries. She's the best. She's the best.
SPEAKER_00She's I just I love her as a I love all these women as people too, but she makes these like healthy treats from protein muffins to hummus trays to um empanadas. And so we just want people to come in and work. We just want to offer a nice quiet space. Uh, Vina's done such a brilliant job of creating this space. Why not share it? And so we want you to come in here and it's 21 and over all day long, even during the coffee hour, just as a quiet space. Our focus. Yeah, and our playlist is intentional, it's meant to appeal to an older crowd and just and we intentionally put two seaters in here so you can just have a conversation or bring a larger group if you want. But um, yeah, just to be different from what's available in the warehouse block. Mary Twin does a great job of creating a space where you can bring kids and dogs and do all that. And we're here to compliment that by saying, Here's an alternate. And you know, you can void around the corner who there's no end to their creativity. No, always doing it.
SPEAKER_01And they're always pushing the envelope. I love the void guys. I do too. Yeah, they're always thinking of like these crazy ideas, and they're very similar to you in regards to like they really want the community coming in and creating their own ideas and their own spaces. Such an exclusive, they're so smart.
SPEAKER_00They're great. And I love that there's always a Kentucky connection, and of course, Japan. There are so many connections here with Toyota, Mark Lane Collins bringing them in, and Kentucky Christmas in Japan with the whole Harlow Sanders Camp C. And you know, Justin is really dedicated to his craft and like brings sports from Japan and um stills it himself and uh Koji, all the things. I I uh love listening to them about their process and then Blue Door, Jeff, who's the master of his craft. And to me, this block is the perfect example of entrepreneurship. You've got Spaulding's bakery around the corner reminding us of that. I mean, Spaulding started with 30s, right? Yeah, and literally Papa Spaulding was the one who was dropping off um bread and flour to all of the bakeries and stuff downtown by horse drawn carriage, and like his family has just kept that going. That's incredible. It is incredible, and then you've got, of course, peanut butter in the air, big top peanut butter baby.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, big top peanut butter.
SPEAKER_00Talk about that. Oh my gosh, yeah, William Young. You know, he grew up on Aurora Avenue. Okay he worked for his father's laundry company that had the simple tagline, wear clean clothes. I love that. That's very direct messaging. And so he took a couple lessons. Number one, how to sell himself from his dad. He was a great marketing guy, but also uh it was impressed upon him at an early age. The owners make all the money. So why would you be anything but an owner? So he kind of dabbles in engineering. He's making little radios for his brother at home. That's what he studies at UK. He makes straight A's, never misses a day of class. And that's where he meets a young debutante from Georgia. And in fact, she was like crowned the the what is the something of the debutante ball, the queen, the princess, the queen. Queen of me, yeah. By by Happy Chandler. And he laid eyes on her and was like, okay. Well, and her father owns a peanut farm and he serves in the war. And afterward, he comes back home and he opens up W.T. Young food services right where Jeff stands today. And he sold a number of things, but amongst those was peanut butter. Up until this time, peanut butter had only been marketed as a nutritional supplement for people with no teeth. But W.T. Young had the vision of putting it into pantries. He thought he could do it. Yeah, put it on bread. That's right. And he knew how to sell it. So he was like, People need something happy after war times. I'm gonna put a clown on it. We're gonna call it Big Top. Yeah, I'm gonna sell it in these like fine-edged pieces of China. Somebody just brought me, I mean, Ellie, thank you. She came to History Night and she brought like all these glasses from that Big Top used to be served in. Because you'd have something nice for your table when you were done. And he would go out and do all these in-store demos, putting out a fine linen tablecloth, lighting a candle. He was sleeping on the doorsteps of emerging conglomerates like Kroger. And in 1955, he sold the peanut butter for $3.3 million. To who? He sold it to Proctor and Gamble. Then it's Muckers Today. They added the sugar. It used to never have to be.
SPEAKER_01The gif factory across the street, across Winchester Road used to be Big Top Peanut Butter. It was WT Young Food Services. And Big Top was one of the things that they sold.
SPEAKER_00What that they sold. Cool. And uh they processed 188 billion
Mary Todd Lincoln’s Education And Myths
SPEAKER_00peanuts last year, more than anywhere else in the world. Yeah. This isn't this is it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So so yeah. So that's one of the things that was sold there. And then of course he goes on, like we do when we get money around here. He gets into horses over Brooke Farm. He ends up buying a horse nobody wanted at the sales, a yearly named Stormcat. And we've all bet on a cat at this point. That totally worked out. Yeah. In 1996, he had his own Derby winner with grindstone. But of course, we we remember him for everything he left behind. I mean, he built the High Street YMCA. He uh created the largest scholarship fund in the state to keep the smart Kentucky kids here. He saved the opera. House from demolition the very day it was to be torn down to make a parking lot. Thank God that didn't happen. Did you imagine? It's one of only 14 in the nation built before 1900 with a thousand seats or less. And in a scene like Mae West, Harry Houdin. Yeah. And it's my one of my favorite places.
SPEAKER_01I love I love the opera house so much. Me too.
SPEAKER_00And Ed Mackey. I love you too. And it's incredible. I couldn't imagine our city without it. But yeah, he saved it. The very day it was to be torn down. He kickstarted UK's library, which kids affectionately's. He established the largest book endowment in the nation that was recently surpassed, but it's to Harvard, so okay. But my favorite thing about him is what he was always quoted as saying. And that's that he felt so lucky to have been born in the United States, but even luckier to have been born in Lexington. I love that. I mean, what better example of and that's one of the things I love about Lexington so much. You know, the the Salah's houses, all these big names, Wiley Cottle. Everybody stays here. We'd have Michael. That says a lot, I think, about our city and the community that exists here.
SPEAKER_01The cream kind of rises to the top. Like the Lexington's really special in the sense that you if you you're successful, you are generally successful because you're working well with others. You're playing really nicely among different fields. You're, you know, I mean, like, we really respect, I think, in this town, like this sense of camaraderie and like, I don't know, of course. Rising each other's tie. A respect. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00You're so right. I Lexington's an incredibly collaborative space. And you see it all the time within restaurants themselves. Uh, of course, you've got Chef Greg Spaulding with salt and vinegar sitting inside Ethereal Brewing. You've got Void right beside us, always bringing in different businesses to showcase. We love doing it here. We're gonna have a couple pop-ups on Saturday, um, doing some dry styling and some permanent jewelry and whatever. I think so many people don't oh, and look at Wida. I mean, she literally has a cooking studio where she brings in all these chefs for these dinners. Chef Powell is doing it nonstop right now, and she's traveling to other places or just the concept of feast in general. Yeah, it's my favorite event every single year. But yeah, it is so cool and such a great example to see all these leaders creating space for everybody else. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. You're so right. So, last question what is next for bites of the bluegrass? Or like what are some you personal goals you have? I mean, you're so entrepreneurial. What's what's on the horizon?
SPEAKER_00Um, quite honestly, my promise to myself this year was not to create anything new.
SPEAKER_01Any new businesses? Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Because I also I also have kids, uh, two that are growing out of the house, but one daughter is still at home. She plays volleyball. And uh, and it also leaves room to do fun things like history dinners, which uh um I just did a series at the Manchester this winter. I loved we did Lovers of Lexington, Ladies of Lexington, Lost Lexington. And um, it's been brought to me to do several more. And I would love to make time and space for that without feeling like I want to jump off a cliff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Sounds great. I mean, you're I mean, it's all about balance. That's right. So you can't overextend.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And I also love attending everything and supporting other people. Of course.
SPEAKER_01And uh symbiotic relationship, I bet, for you. It's important. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And I'm genuinely like want to go. Like literally tonight, I will go to the jazz thing at Kentucky Theater. Then I'm gonna pop into a restaurant somewhere, maybe the V and try that, and then go to Lexi Lovett, the Bar Conference.
SPEAKER_01Yes. A woman about town. I love it.
SPEAKER_00Tomorrow warehouse block, maybe. Yeah, warehouse block. There'll be a tour going on that'll be walking right through. Oh, fantastic.
SPEAKER_01Good, good, good. We'll have food trucks for them and all that. I'm sure you already have it all planned.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, this tour goes to we start in Lucia's. So the people walk in and see how special Lucia's is. I love Lucia's. I do too.
SPEAKER_01And it's so people don't realize it is one of the greatest places to get a gift in Lexington, Kentucky. It's the greatest. It's so cute. And it's going to and it's fair trade.
SPEAKER_00Fair trade and stores from all over the world, and it's such a nice reflection of who we are in Lexington, which is 25% immigrant. The number two most commonly spoken language in our public school system is Swahili. Swahili, I know.
SPEAKER_01Isn't that wild? I learned that on one of your tours.
SPEAKER_00And this weekend we're actually hosting the Latin festival. You know, I mean, we are a diverse city, and a lot of people don't know that about us. Uh, and that's a great place to start talking about all of the diversity that lives on this end of town. And I totally agree. Warehouse Block is a I feel like downtown is like divided into districts. We've got the distillery district. Um, West End could arguably be its own district. There's a lot of different things. Jefferson Street almost, yeah. And I'm actually in a conversation right now. Does like Smithtown belong to the East End or the West Town? A lot of people think it belongs to East End. I don't, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Um Tyler Morton is uh council person for district number one, and he's actually on he's going to be defining all that, and that's important. Oh, interesting. I think because number one, when I talk about East End neighborhood, which is very much a cultural identity of neighborhoods that were formed after emancipation, and a lot of folks like Kincaid, the Living Arts and Sciences Center, that was his mansion, and he divvied up his property and only leased and sold to previously enslaved people. And that became Kincaid Town and Gun Town and Goodlow Town, and and it's literally generations still living in those homes. It is truly a cultural identity, and it's incredibly important. Um, and incredibly important to be able to preserve history in the right way. To define it so we know who's in charge of keeping that going because um historians w won't always be here. We gotta pass it off and it's gotta be documented and ready to go. Otherwise, Jimmy Winkfield gets lost in the mix and we can't handle it. Exactly. Oh, full circle moment.
SPEAKER_01Look at you, straight back to what we were just talking about.
Illness, Scandal, And Reframing Mary
SPEAKER_01I love it. Well, thanks for being on the podcast. Oh my god. I always love chatting with you. I always like chatting with you too. Maybe we should do another episode sometime soon. Sure. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I talk all the time.
SPEAKER_01Sounds great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, history's done. Sounds great.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Okay. Couple history nerds unite for sure. Cool. Thank you. Bye.