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Nelson County, Kentucky

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles

—digitized titles

45historic places

—earliest paper

1785formed

46,738pop. 2020

23cemeteries

—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 45 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Bardstown, Bloomfield, New Haven.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Kentucky is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Nelson titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

27 of 45 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

45 listed properties

Property	City	Type	Listed
Archeological Site 15 Ne 3	Lenore	Site	1979
Baldwin's Tourist Court Residence-Office	Bardstown	Building	2011
Bardstown Historic District	Bardstown	District	1983
Bardstown Historic District(Boundary Increase & Additional Documentation)	Bardstown	District	2010
Beechwold	Bardstown	Building	1984
Bloomfield Historic District	Bloomfield	District	1991
Bruntwood	Bardstown	Building	1975
Cobblestone Path	Bardstown	Structure	1989
Confederate Monument of Bardstown	Bardstown	Object	1997
Coombs-Duncan-Brown Farmhouse	Bloomfield	Building	2010
Cottage Grove Historic District	Bardstown	District	1991
Culpeper	Bardstown	Building	1988
Duncan, Henry, House	Bloomfield	Building	1990
Edgewood	Bardstown	Building	1975
Frankfort and Cincinnati Model 55 Rail Car	New Haven	Structure	1998
Holiday Inn of Bardstown	Bardstown	Building	2023
Howard Brothers' Store	Howardstown	Building	1986
Johnson, Ben, House	Bardstown	Building	1979
Johnson, Silvester, House and Business	New Haven	Building	2002
Kelley, John S., House	Bardstown	Building	1992
Kurtz Restaurant and Bardstown-Parkview Motel-Office	Bardstown	Building	2011
L & N Steam Locomotive No. 152	New Haven	Structure	1974
Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665	New Haven	Site	1997
MT. BRODERICK Pullman Lounge-Obs-Sleeping Car	New Haven	Structure	1997
Mattingly House	Bardstown	Building	1987
McClaskey, Newell B., House	Bloomfield	Building	2000
My Old Kentucky Home	Bardstown	Building	1971
Nelson County Jail	Bardstown	Building	1987
New Sherwood Hotel	New Haven	Building	1992
Old Kentucky Home Motel	Bardstown	Building	2011
Old L & N Station	Bardstown	Building	1990
Old Talbott Tavern	Bardstown	Building	1973
Samuels, T. W., Distillery Historic District	Deatsville	District	1988
Samuels, Wilson, House	Samuels	Building	2024
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Historic District	Bardstown	District	1984
Spalding Hall, St. Joseph's College	Bardstown	Building	1973
St. Joseph Cathedral and College Complex	Bardstown	District	1976
St. Joseph Proto Cathedral	Bardstown	Building	1974
St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church and Howard-Flaget House	Bardstown	Building	1976
Stone House on Buffalo Creek	Bardstown	Building	1983
Stone, John, House	Bloomfield	Building	1984
Walnut Groves Farm	Bloomfield	Building	1980
Walnut Groves Farm (Boundary Increase I)	Bloomfield	District	1999
Wickland	Bardstown	Building	1973
Wilson Motel	Bardstown	Building	2011

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Nelson was formed in 1785 (1785-01-01) from Jefferson.

NELSON created by Virginia from JEFFERSON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Nelson County population from 1790 to 2020 (Census historical series).

1790	1800	1820	1840	1860	1880	1900	1920	1940	1950	1960	1980	2000	2020
11,315	9,866	16,273	13,637	15,799	16,609	16,587	16,137	18,004	19,521	22,168	27,584	37,477	46,738

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

23 cemeteries and 12 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 23 of 23 listed

Name	Lat	Lon
Bardstown Cemetery	37.82228	-85.46051
Beeler - Vittitow Cemetery	37.69867	-85.59551
Fairfield Cemetery	37.92684	-85.36374
Greenwell Cemetery	37.71952	-85.57621
Highview Cemetery	37.89811	-85.2369
Holy Trinity Cemetery	37.77444	-85.36267
Johnson Cemetery	37.74142	-85.6792
Little Brick Cemetery	37.79783	-85.6594
Maple Grove Cemetery	37.91614	-85.31572
Marshall Cemetery	37.71979	-85.52962
Montgomery Cemetery	37.93901	-85.46748
Mount Moriah Cemetery	37.81262	-85.67721
Poplar Flats Cemetery	37.80459	-85.36089
Pottinger Cemetery	37.65039	-85.52406
Price Cemetery	37.89798	-85.1686
Saint Ann Cemetery	37.57823	-85.59022
Saint Gregory Cemetery	37.89442	-85.53472
Saint Josephs Cemetery	37.82394	-85.4594
Saint Michaels Cemetery	37.93922	-85.40134
Saint Vincent De Paul Cemetery	37.62311	-85.50996
Sutherland Cemetery	37.78623	-85.50061
Vowles Cemetery	37.73738	-85.563
Wilkinson Cemetery	37.87829	-85.35938

Historical populated places — 12 of 12

Name	Lat	Lon
Beech Fork	37.83812	-85.30699
Clarktown	37.66147	-85.48162
Hahntown	37.89308	-85.26343
Holt Ridge	37.85849	-85.20241
Humphrey	37.82487	-85.30759
Needmore	37.78608	-85.39156
Plum Run	37.89966	-85.39029
Samuel Pottinger Settlement	37.65005	-85.52444
Sol Bloom	37.86682	-85.32841
South Bardstown	37.78679	-85.46535
Upper Grove	37.95482	-85.47636
West Bardstown	37.80588	-85.48389

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Nelson County, Kentucky

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.