Bardstown, city (2020 pop. 13,567), seat of Nelson co., central Ky., SE of Louisville, in a rich farm area; settled 1775, inc. 1788. The city has distilleries and varied manufacturing including furniture, building materials, and electrical equipment. A monument to the American inventor John Fitch is in Bardstown. Nearby is the manor house “Federal Hill” (built 1795–1818) where Stephen Foster is said to have written My Old Kentucky Home. Of note are the Cathedral of St. Joseph (1816–19), whose paintings were given by Louis Philippe of France, and the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane, a Trappist monastery founded in 1848. The Barton Museum of whiskey history is a short distance away. In the Civil War, Bardstown was occupied (Sept., 1862) by Gen. Braxton Bragg's Confederate army.
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