Guide to Bardstown, Kentucky

Settled in 1780, Bardstown in Kentucky’s 2nd-oldest city. It is the county seat of Nelson County.

• A total of 11 distillery experiences are located within 16 miles of downtown Bardstown: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Barton 1792, Heaven Hill, Log Still, Lux Row, Old Samuels, Preservation Distillery, and Willett, plus Jim Beam American Stillhouse, Limestone Branch, and Maker’s Mark. Two additional distilleries will be opened by 2022.
• Bardstown was named “The Most Beautiful Small Town in America” in 2012 by USA Today and Rand McNally.
• More than 300 buildings in Bardstown are on the National Register of Historic Places, with nearly 200 in the downtown district.
• The Stephen Foster Story has been entertaining audiences at the J. Dan Talbott Amphitheatre at My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown since 1959.
• My Old Kentucky Dinner Train has been hosting bourbon tours since 1988. The Bardstown railroad was originally constructed in 1860; the dining cars were built in the late 1940s after World War II.
• The Old Talbott Tavern was built in 1779 and is located just off the Courthouse Square in historic downtown Bardstown. It is the oldest restaurant in Kentucky.
• Bardstown is “The Bourbon Capital of the World” and an official trailhead of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.