Things to Do in Bardstown, Kentucky

Judge John Rowan’s mansion, Federal Hill, is the house tied to Stephen Foster’s song “My Old Kentucky Home.” More than 75 percent of what’s inside is original to the family. Guides sing the song on every tour, and the grounds hold formal gardens.

★ Good to know Mansion tours run daily and need no reservation; October brings ghost tours and December a Christmas Carol production, so check the park’s calendar.

Five brothers founded Heaven Hill in 1935, just after Prohibition, and it’s now the largest family-owned spirits company in the country. Its visitor center, expanded in 2021, has tasting rooms, interactive exhibits, a bar and a rooftop deck, a few minutes from downtown.

★ Good to know Tours and tastings are booked online, so reserve a time before you drive over.

Thompson Willett founded this distillery in 1936 on his family’s estate, and his grandchildren still run it. It sits on some of the highest ground in Nelson County. The original buildings and patios make it feel like a family place, and there’s food and a cocktail bar on site.

★ Good to know It’s out on Loretto Road; book a tour time before you go.

Lux Row sits on a 90-acre family farm with a 19th-century stone house at the end of a tree-lined drive. It makes Rebel, Ezra Brooks, David Nicholson and Blood Oath. The six-story barrel wall is its signature photo spot, and peacocks roam the grounds.

★ Good to know It’s listed as family friendly and pet friendly, which is rare on the Bourbon Trail.

This museum fills Spalding Hall, an 1826 building downtown, and traces American whiskey from colonial stills through Prohibition. Look for George Washington’s millstone, Abraham Lincoln’s liquor license and real moonshine stills. Admission is free.

★ Good to know The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is held on these same grounds, so pair the two if you come for the festival.

The tavern on Court Square was built in 1779 and bills itself as the oldest western stagecoach stop still operating. Daniel Boone and a young Abraham Lincoln are said to have passed through, and bullet holes upstairs are credited to Jesse James. Today it’s a restaurant, bourbon bar and small inn.

★ Good to know It’s downtown on Court Square, so it makes an easy lunch stop between the Getz Museum and the cathedral.

On Museum Row off East Broadway, this complex focuses on the war’s Western Theater, from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. It holds one of the largest collections of Union and Confederate artifacts in the country. The same campus has a Women’s Civil War Museum and a museum for Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, a Bardstown native.

★ Good to know Several museums share the campus, so allow more time than you would for a single exhibit.

Builders laid the cornerstone in 1816, and Mass was held here by 1819. It was the first cathedral west of the mountains, and paintings inside were gifts from Pope Leo XII and King Louis-Philippe of France. It’s still an active parish on West Stephen Foster Avenue.

★ Good to know It’s a working church, so avoid walking in during Mass.