Nelson County is located in the western end of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, extending into the hilly western knobs. Colonels Isaac Cox and James Rogers built stations in the area in 1780 and Samuel Pottinger built a station in 1781.
The fourth county created in what is now Kentucky, it was formed November 29, 1784 from Jefferson County, Virginia, and early Nelson County records can be found in the Library of Virginia. The county was named for Thomas Nelson, the Virginia Governor who signed the Declaration of Independence. Virginia ceded the district of Kentucky to the United States in 1792 and Kentucky officially became the fifteenth state in the Union on June 1, 1792.
Originally much larger than it is today, Nelson County was a source of Washington (1792) Green (1793), Bullitt (1797) and Spencer (1824) counties in Kentucky. In 2020, the county population was 46,738 in a land area of 417.51 square miles, an average of 111.9 people per square mile. However, the population of Bardstown was estimated at 13,567, which is 29% of the total population of the county. It is also estimated there were 2100 horses residing on 450 equine operations in the county.
Bardstown is the county seat. Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a 1,000 acre land grant in 1785 in what was then Jefferson County, Virginia. William Bard surveyed and platted the town. It was originally chartered as Baird's Town in 1788, and has been known as Beardstown, and Beards Town. Incorporated towns in Nelson County include Bardstown, Bloomfield, Fairfield and New Haven.
The production of bourbon whiskey is a major industry and has been produced commercially in Nelson County since 1844 by T. W. Samuels. With 11 distilleries within 16 miles of downtown, Bardstown is known as the "Bourbon Capital of the World." The Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History is located in Bardstown.
Many of the early settlers in the county were Roman Catholic and the first diocese was established in Bardstown in 1808 by Bishop Benedict J. Flaget. The Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral was completed about 1825 and Nelson county is home to the Abbey of Gethsemani and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
