The seven-story Manchester hotel is an homage to Lexington’s first bourbon distillery—opened on this very plot in 1865. The arched interiors are a nod to the former rickhouses where stacked barrels once rested; now 125 guest rooms extend between the ground floor Granddam restaurant to rooftop bar Lost Palm. Downstairs, executive chef Paula Endara’s elevated Appalachian cooking includes country ham and leek chowder, and lamb Wellington packed with locally foraged mushrooms, while the panoramic bar above is a tribute to horse racing culture in 1960s South Florida. The roof is the perfect place to scout the surrounding Distillery District, which includes longtime residents such as Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., and the upstart Fresh Bourbon, the first Black-owned distillery in the state. The Manchester is also an anchor point on the Town Branch Trail, completed in 2022; pedestrians and cyclists can now follow a strip of bluegrass that connects Lexington’s urban greenspaces while also celebrating its legacy and future. Stops include the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden, a park-cum-classroom honoring the country’s earliest African American jockeys, and the newly expanded Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena, a concert and convention hall that’s become a coveted stopover for headliners like Olivia Rodrigo and Tim McGraw, monster truck shows, and March Madness.
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