Step back into history where Thomas Edison switched on the largest display of electric lights outside of New York City at the Southern Exposition of 1883-1887. Today St. James Court is better known for its yearly juried open-air art festival, but it offers visitors year-round a glimpse into another era. Gas lights still glow at night, illuminating the stately Victorian homes that surround green walking courts, all ensconced in the heart of Old Louisville, the largest collection of Victorian mansions in the country. A variety of guided tours offer inside looks at the grand neighborhood—lantern ghost walks and full-moon tours with Louisville Historic Tours are among the most intriguing. Don't miss a visit to Louisville's “castle,” the Conrad Caldwell Museum, and be sure to snap a photo of the Pink Palace—so named when the Woman's Christian Temperance Union painted a former gentleman's club pastel pink in the 1920s, a color that remains today.