The smell of wood

Wooden Bourbon warehouse Jim Beam property, Kentucky

Warehouse for aging in oak barrels

All wood construction warehouse

Wood construction and wood barrels in Kentucky

The barrels used in bourbon making are built from white oak, Quercus Alba.  The wood that is used in Europe may be from one of two other Quercus species.  The construction of the barrel storage buildings is all wood.  The smell inside the warehouse is the full sense smell of wood.   The storage buildings pictured here are at Clermont, Kentucky.   The operator does not use horse drawn transport to move the barrels around the facility but many of the methods employed here are from at least one hundred years ago. The wood barrels are put into and removed from all wood buildings.  It is very much a place of forest products.

Hammer's Cave Spring and Spring Mill Inn

The water from Hammer's Cave Spring at Spring Mill

The restaurant at Spring Mill Inn near Mitchel, Indiana is a popular place for good food.  I had heard that a desert made from the fruit of the persimmon tree was available for patrons.  I looked for it but I did not find it.  I asked if the persimmon tree dessert was available for me.  Yes! I had it and the only drawback is I think the preparer is adding sugar to the fruit.  Nonetheless it is a treat to enjoy.

The forest area around the inn is very healthy.  It is possible and I hope it is true that the persimmon fruit desserts at Spring Mill Inn are local food.

Hammer's Cave Spring

 

Many people speak of Indiana as the Crossroads of America. The  days of life in the nineteenth century in Indiana are the subject of the historic area at Spring Mill near Mitchel, Indiana.  Samuel Jackson, Jr. had served in the Navy in the War of 1812.  He moved to the area now preserved at Spring Mill in 1814.  In 1817 the Bullitt brothers of Louisville bought the land and began to add structures to the community.  It was the Bullitt brothers that built the three story stone mill.  In 1824 another set of brothers purchased the property.  This time it was the Montgomery brothers of  Philadelphia.  They built a distillery at the site.  In 1833 the Hammer brothers purchased the mill.  The source of the water for the mill is called Hammer's cave.  The tall cedar trees on the lawn have been dated to be older than the time of the Hammer era.  One can touch the same trees that the Hammer children played under in their lives at this beautiful place.

This is a colorful place; those who come may take a wonderful memory with them.