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History and Beauty

Lexington, Kentucky, and The Gratz Park Inn

By Patti Nickell

Following drinks, you can book a table in the adjoining Jonathan's Restaurant for the regional cuisine of acclaimed chef Jonathan Lundy. Dishes such as Kentucky raised pork with white cheddar grits, green beans and maple mustard slaw or country ham breaded oysters with green tomato cocktail sauce and mashed potatoes offer the best of regional Kentucky and Southern cuisine.

The Gratz Park Inn offers guests something in addition to luxurious accommodations and gourmet cuisine: a couple of mischievous ghosts, presumably inherited from its days as a hospital. One ghost sighting has been of Anna, a little girl who laughs, sings and plays with her doll outside of guests' rooms. Her counterpart, John, is a bit more rambunctious and likes to awaken guests in the middle of the night by turning radio and TV sets on at full volume. Some guests have even claimed waking in the middle of the night to see him sitting in a chair watching them. Apparently, they don't seem overly threatened, as the inn books an impressive number of repeat guests.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Sites, The Gratz Park Inn offers a year round "Discover the Bluegrass" package, which includes overnight accommodations for two and a private guided tour of historic Lexington and the beautiful Bluegrass countryside.

Photos are courtesy of the Lexington Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Photographers are James Archambeault and Jeff Rogers.