Live in Louisville for any amount of time and you’ll see the Brown Frazier family’s impact in more than a few places — like the Frazier History Museum + Brown-Forman Corp. — and now there’s one more: The Avish Estate Garden Complex.
Purchased by Steve Poe — CEO of Poe Companies — and his wife Merry-Kay for $2.7 million in 2018, the estate used to be home to prominent local philanthropist Owsley Brown Frazier until his death in 2012 , after which the gardens became overgrown. While the estate itself is private property, you can take a peek inside .
Now the six acre gardens at The Avish are used in partnership with the Waterfront Botanical Gardens for its educational programming, like yoga and plant classes. The 23-acre property includes 20+ kinds of garden beds that grow produce for cooking classes, flowers, and winter plants + it has two greenhouses
Visit the property at one of these upcoming events:
- Enjoying Aquatic Garden Plants | Sat., July 16 | 9-10:30 a.m. | $19 for members, $24 for non-members | Learn how to create a small aquatic garden using patio containers.
- Yoga at The Avish | Sat., Aug. 6 | 9-10 a.m. | $10 for members, $15 for non-members | Bring your mat + water bottle and build strength during this morning practice.
- Avish Evening Walk-About | Thurs., Aug. 11 | 6-7:15 p.m. | $5 for members, $10 for non-members | Explore the estate + learn from an expert on how to care for an aged garden.
Next up for the Waterfront Botanical Gardens at 1435 Frankfort Ave. will be its Japanese Garden
, complete with a waterfall + pond, a tea house, and bamboo grove.