The Jefferson Davis Monument is located in Fairview, Kentucky and was constructed in memory of the only Confederate President -Jefferson Davis.
The monument is 351 feet tall and is the largest unreinforced concrete obelisk in the world. Construction began in 1917 and was completed in 1924, with walls that are 7 ft. thick at the base and 2 ft. thick at the top. When you stand at the base and glance upwards, you can't help but be impressed with it's height. Believe me, you will see it from miles away as you drive.
I was surprised to discover that there's a working elevator to the top, although it may possibly be the slowest moving elevator I've ever been on. It took about 2 minutes to get to the top. The foyer has 2 beautiful plaques and check out that door....
The view looking up from the bottom of the elevator....
The inside of the elevator was really cool, with brass trim and windows so we could see the cables as we slowly inched upwards....
Once we reached the top we were able to get out and walk around. There really wasn't a lot of room, but the views from the top floor windows let us see for miles. It was really windy up there too!
The Jefferson Davis Monument is located on the grounds of a Kentucky State Historic Site. There were 2 park rangers on duty the day we were there and one of them accompanied us on the tour. Along the way she shared interesting information about Jefferson Davis and The Civil War.
The windows were beautiful and are still the original windows...
Next to the monument is a museum and gift shop that we also toured. They have a great exhibit there, with wonderfully large detailed posters and exhibits about Jefferson Davis and the major events in his life, as well as The Civil War.
The gift shop was well stocked with Civil War memorabilia and I'm sorry I didn't go back in after the monument tour to purchase a book. But I got side tracked because after the elevator ride back down, we sat and tried to figure out the co-ordinates to a 2 step geocache. We had to get some information from the top of the monument, then do some calculating.....
And even though we are convinced our calculations were correct, the cache, hidden somewhere near this wall, eluded us. I guess that just means we'll have to make another trip to the monument to find that geocache, right?
You can read more about the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site here. If you're in the area, stop by and do the tour. I suggest you call ahead and check their open days and times because there were discrepancies between what's listed on the website and the current hours of operation.
