About
Lindsey Able, Owner & Guide
​Lindsey is no stranger to engaging guests with education that entertains. A former tour guide for Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY, Lindsey subsequently followed a decade long career in education before coming back to her first love. Connecting people with places, stories, and each other is what it’s all about. Thus began, Bear Feet Street Tours.
The Story
​The story is a long one, but here’s the shortest version I can manage!
- Lindsey
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Tour guide skills were first taught to me by Maker's Mark Distillery when I landed a position as a bourbon specialist for them, right out of college.
In fact, I was born into the bourbon tourism industry in Kentucky.
My grandmother was the lead administrator of the Jim Beam American Outpost (now the epicenter of bourbon tours) in the ‘90s and early 00’s — I still have her business card from that time!
I’ve always thought New Bern shared some similarities with Bardstown, KY actually (the bourbon capital of the world and my hometown) but instead of water stretching out ahead of you, imagine black rickhouses full of aging oak bourbon barrels all around town.
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In 2022 though, my husband and I were living in the home we owned in western Kentucky. I was working in higher education and we had never even heard of New Bern, let alone visited.
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We had no idea that later that year we would have such a spine-tingling, captivating 72 hours here that it would convict us to sell and move. I remember sitting on the couch in what used to be Nautical Star Coffee on Middle St, during that life changing visit, and just absolutely sobbing. My heart was prepared for a move in-state, but this was so unexpected, so divine, so undeniably clear and yet made no discernible SENSE (at the time) I couldn't articulate what was happening.​
I told people then that it was ”like watching a movie directed about my life, in which God is directing and I’m just acting out my part without having the story line to go by”.​
By 2023 we had made a home in an apartment here on Johnson Street. All 800 square feet of coziness in one side of an 175 year old home. I affectionately dubbed it ”The Hobbit Cottage” due to it’s tiny space, wonky door frames, uneven floors, and variable ceiling heights.
I loved EVERY minute of the two years we lived there. Johnson Street is still my very favorite street in all of New Bern. It’s where our lives and identities evolved and New Bern became home. In that little hobbit cottage my life pivoted and I let go of everything I had prioritized in Kentucky; my career in education, my home ownership, reliance on friends, family, finances and compulsively planning for the future. The spaces left open room to adopt who I was becoming in New Bern - ultimately, making the way for Bear Feet Street Tours.
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​If you're a local, you might recognize me from Midtown Olive Oil on Middle Street! When I left education in 2023, I walked right into the small business community downtown and for two years posted as the weekend warrior there for all your olive oil and vinegar needs.
I've dabbled in theater at Rivertowne Players on Hancock Street, once volunteered as a docent for the New Bern Historical Society, briefly worked for two other shops downtown and, I toot around town a lot on a sea-foam green tricycle I named “Flo”.
The born and raised locals shopping downtown have taught me a lot about the New Bern of days gone by, and their stories are often incorporated into tours today. At present time, I've since moved to the historic Ghent neighborhood. A lovely spot to be in it's own right! To keep with tradition of giving my addresses nicknames, we call the new spot our "Palazzio".
And whether on foot or on wheels, I often have my #1 sidekick with me.
To be affected by these places, and to play your own role in it's story;
THAT is Bear Feet Street Tours.
