
Bardstown’s History
Bardstown was settled in 1780, and selected as the county seat of Nelson County, then part of Virginia. It is Kentucky’s second oldest city.
Bardstown got its name from Bard brothers David and William, the former having a 1,000-acre land grant from Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, and the latter acting as surveyor.
The discovery of Bourbon in 1789 is attributed to Baptist minister Elijah Craig.
At any given time, Kentucky has more barrels of bourbon aging than people – some 5 million to its 4.2 million population.
More than 300 buildings in Nelson County are on the National Register of Historic Places; nearly 200 of them are in the historic downtown district.