First, it was USA Today newspaper and Rand McNally Publishing Company which, in 2012 following a five-month search, named Bardstown “America’s Most Beautiful Small Town.”
Fast forward 11 years and Bardstown is once again being touted for its beauty. This time it’s Travel + Leisure Magazine which gave it a coveted spot on its “20 Most Beautiful Small Towns in the U.S.” list, singling it out as “the epitome of Southeastern Aesthetic.”
For those who like to keep tabs on national rankings, Bardstown is number 8, just below Wallace, Idaho, a picturesque silver mining community at the foot of the Idaho Rockies, and just above Camden, Maine, a quintessential New England harbor town.
Travel + Leisure loved Bardstown’s Federal-style architecture and cobblestoned byways, and was particularly enamored of the courthouse and its eponymous square, situated at the entrance to the historic downtown.
But they could just as easily have given a mention to the elegant Harrison-Smith House, now a venue for upscale private events, or the Dale Chihuly glass-domed ceiling, “The Spirit of the Maker” at Maker’s Mark Distillery, or the splendor of the vintage cars on My Old Kentucky Dinner Train.
They could have focused on two unique lodging options – the Talbott Tavern, the oldest coaching stop west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the Jailer’s Inn Bed and Breakfast, where guests sleep in what was once the Nelson County jail.
They might have showcased Wickland, home to three Kentucky governors or the Neo-classical/Greek Revival/Federal-style Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral or Spalding Hall, built in conjunction with the cathedral.
The point being that Bardstown overflows with Instagrammable options.
Bardstown’s beauty is on display during every season.
Spring is a blooming spectacle of redbuds, dogwoods and multi-hued gardens throughout the town. It also signals the beginning of patio season at local restaurants and bars.
You can enjoy the breezes and brisket egg rolls on the patio at Bardstown Bourbon Company, or order a refreshing bourbon cocktail on the rooftop patio at Five Brothers Bar at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience.
With summer comes the opening of the swimming pool and concession stand at the retro Bardstown Motor Lodge just across from the entrance to My Old Kentucky Home State Park.
Summer will usher in the 64th season of the outdoor musical “The Stephen Foster Story” on the grounds of MOKH.
Summer is also a great time to pay a visit to nearby Bernheim Forest and take a walk along its lovely lake lined with sweet-smelling verbena.
Autumn’s colorful foliage is on full display across Bardstown, but nowhere more so than on the lakeside walking path at Dant’s Crossing, or the ornamental lake at Willet Distillery.
Fall also sees the town host its annual Bourbon Heritage Festival, honoring Bardstown’s history as “the Bourbon Capital of the World.”
Winter wraps up the year with small town holiday celebrations worthy of a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. Or as Samantha Brady, Executive Director of the Bardstown/Nelson County Tourist Commission, likes to say, “a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.”
But as everyone knows, beauty – however luminous – is only skin deep. Bardstown’s landscape, with its mosaic of elegant buildings, secret gardens, historic landmarks and bourbon distilleries, provides the outer beauty.
However, the town’s inner beauty comes from the warmth and heart-felt hospitality of its residents who are always willing to share the charms of their town with visitors.
As Guest Services Representative at the Tourism Commission, Chrissie Spannknebel’s is the first face visitors to Bardstown see when they arrive at the Welcome Center. It is an opportunity she takes full advantage of.
“I know their Bardstown experience starts with me,” says Spannknebel. “So I go above and beyond to make sure that experience is an exceptional one, whether it’s simply giving them information on places to see and things to do, or making reservations for them at hotels, restaurants and attractions.”
Spannknebel goes on to say that it may be Bardstown’s attractions that bring visitors in for the first time, but “it’s our true southern hospitality that brings them back.”
Richard Blanton is another ambassador for Bardstown hospitality, which he allows is special. Blanton is mansion supervisor at My Old Kentucky Home which is moving into its second century of being a symbol of Kentucky hospitality.
“When you have so many things to be proud of, like our history and our bourbon, it’s exciting to share that with others,” says Blanton.
With all due respect to Travel + Leisure, USA Today/Rand McNally (and all the other publications that have discovered Bardstown’s charms), they are simply confirming what we have always known.
Bardstown is beautiful – on the outside and the inside.