Elizabethtown — Historic Downtown, the Coca-Cola Museum & Freeman Lake Park

Fifty minutes south of Louisville, Elizabethtown is one of central Kentucky's most pleasant small cities — a walkable historic downtown wrapped around a courthouse square, with a surprising cache of Americana just off the main drag. The day centers on E'town's restored downtown, where the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia holds one of the largest private collections of Coke advertising and artifacts in the world, gathered by a family that bottled Coca-Cola here for a century. From there the route wanders to Freeman Lake Park, a lovely city lake ringed by a walking path and dotted with historic cabins, and to the elegant Brown-Pusey House, a Federal-style former stagecoach inn with formal gardens. It is an easy, relaxed day of history and small-town charm, anchored by a leisurely lunch in the heart of downtown.