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Rand
McNally/USA TODAY’s “Most Beautiful Small Town”
is
Now Travel + Leisure’s Favorite Town
|
Book
a trip to Bardstown, the ‘Bourbon Capital of the World, to see why
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Bardstown,
KY – November 2013 / Hospitality 1ST / The votes are in and Travel
+ Leisure’s readers have spoken: Bardstown, Ky., is one of their Favorite
Towns in America, landing in the Top 20. Not surprising for the city Rand
McNally/USA TODAY declared the “Most Beautiful Small Town in America” in
its “Best of the Road” contest. Or the place
Travel + Leisure also
hailed as having one of “America’s Most Beautiful Town Squares.” Visit
www.SampleOurSpirit.com
to see what makes Bardstown so picture-perfect.
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Beauty
– and lots of bourbon
Sitting
at the trailhead of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, Bardstown is home
to Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam – located on the Trail – as well
as Barton 1792 and Willett Distillery. New bourbon-related attractions
are adding shine to Bardstown’s downtown, where some 200 buildings are
on the National Register of Historic Places: The Bourbon Manor Inn will
be all about America’s only Native Spirit, with accommodations, foods –
even spa treatments – given a (bourbon) twist. At the new Kentucky Bourbon
Market, visitors can sample the best of Kentucky Bourbon Trail® bourbons
at a distinctive Bourbon Bar & Tasting Room and shop for upscale bourbon
souvenirs in its gift shop.
These
new bourbon attractions will be near Bardstown’s town square, described
by Travel + Leisure writer April
Orcutt as “one of the nation’s prettiest with a gingerbread-trimmed
brick courthouse” . . . the “crown jewel of Court Square.” The courthouse
anchors a bustling shopping and dining landscape, with distinctive locally-owned
restaurants and boutiques giving visitors plenty of reasons to come downtown.
The
latest accolade as America’s Favorite Town joins a list of honors that
also includes Bardstown’s designation as a certified Kentucky Cultural
District – one of only six Kentucky cities to achieve this honor – and
being named a “best of” in several categories of Kentucky Living
magazine’s “2013 Best in Kentucky” reader write-in contest.
The
‘bests’ of the best
Readers
of Kentucky Living magazine gave Bardstown a hearty thumbs-up in
six different categories for the “2013
Best in Kentucky”: best bed and breakfast/inn, with the Jailer’s Inn,
formerly the Old Nelson County Jail property and now a unique bed and breakfast
replete with furnished jail cell room; best non-franchise restaurant, with
Mammy’s Kitchen, known for its down-home-style cooking; best walking/running/bicycling
trail, with Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest with its nature center,
picnic areas, hiking trails and lakes; best Kentucky product – Maker’s
Mark; and best winery – Chuckleberry Farm and Winery.
Bardstown
was also selected as a best in the “Weekend Getaway” category – and it
just keeps getting better with the new Bourbon Manor Inn and Kentucky Bourbon
Market. There are so many reasons to plan a visit: downtown dining and
shopping; a half dozen distilleries with tours and tastings; Federal Hill,
aka, My Old Kentucky Home in My Old Kentucky Home State Park; the outdoor
Broadway-style musical, “The Stephen Foster Story”; My Old Kentucky Dinner
Train, which takes passengers by vintage rail cars through Bernheim Forest;
the Civil War Museum of the Western Theatre and other museums – plus unique
bed and breakfast inns, religious attractions, ghost tours, golf and more.
Experience
the best on the “Most Beautiful Town Square” in the “Most Beautiful Small
Town in America” in Bardstown, Ky. – now “America’s Favorite Town.” Visit
www.SampleOurSpirit.com
for information on attractions, events and accommodations.
Media
Contact:
Dawn
Przystal, 800-638-4877 x 114
Bardstown-Nelson
County Tourist & Convention Commission
Photo:
Court
Square in Bardstown, Ky., the “Bourbon Capital of the World.”
Credit:
Kip McGinnis / Bardstown-Nelson County Tourist & Convention Commission
Hi-
and Low-Res photos available.
About
Bardstown, KY
Located
in the heart of Kentucky Bourbon Country and situated at the trailhead
of the famed Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Bardstown
is more familiarly known as the “Bourbon Capital of the World.” It is home
to five distilleries, including Barton 1792 and Willett Distillery and
these three Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries: Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark
and Jim Beam. Major attractions include the outdoor musical, “The Stephen
Foster Story,” My Old Kentucky Home State Park, the highly regarded Civil
War Museum of the Western Theatre, My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, the narrated
Heaven Hill Trolley tour and The Kentucky Railway Museum – where Thomas
the Tank Engine is known to put in appearances. Additionally, Bardstown
has four 18-hole golf courses, three wineries, two haunted tours and numerous
religious attractions. It was selected as the “Most Beautiful Small Town
in America” in the Rand McNally/USA Today 2012 “Best of the Road” contest
and landed in the top 20 of “America’s Favorite Towns” in a survey by Travel
+ Leisure – which also recognized Bardstown as having one of “America’s
Most Beautiful Town Squares.” In 2013, Bardstown was designated a certified
Kentucky Cultural District, one of only six Kentucky cities to achieve
this honor. www.facebook.com/BardstownKY |
