Old Talbott Tavern, Bardstown

Old Talbott Tavern

107 West Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown, KY 40004

Grade C · TraditionTrading · checked Sept 2026

Old Talbott Tavern claims 1779. The records say 1800.

Claimed

1779

First record

1800

Building

c.1790

The building. Stone range with walls two feet thick, the eastern end built first, two storeys and four bays with two front entrances; the gabled end is the front today. A parallel brick range and a connecting wing with verandas were added later, the brick thought at the time of listing to be over a hundred years old. Fire damage in 1998, reopened 1999.

Bourbon

Rooms

Live music

Food

The claim

A stone-and-brick tavern on Bardstown's Court Square that has fed and lodged Kentucky travellers since the late 1700s, with guests said to include Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln and the exiled Louis-Philippe of France. It styles its bar the oldest bourbon bar in the world, fitting for the bourbon capital, and offers Southern food, weekend music and rooms.

What the records show

The 1779 is traditional, and the National Register nomination that lists the building says so itself: 'According to tradition, since the first guest arrived in 1779, the Tavern has never been closed', with General George Rogers Clark's use of the cellars given as local tradition and the visit of Louis Philippe in October 1797 as legend. A Kentucky state marker dates the stone portion before 1790, suggests it was probably built for Salem Academy, and puts tavern use at about 1800 under William Rose Hynes; the nomination notes that the old town map shows the site bought by a man named Hynes and that Hynes Hotel was painted on what was then the front. The house has gone by many names — Hynes House, Bardstown Hotel, Chapman's House, Shady Bower Hotel, the Newman House, Talbott Hotel, Talbott Tavern from 1885 to 1968, and Old Stone Tavern. A fire in 1998 badly damaged the roof, the upper floor and the murals.

Dated evidence for Old Talbott Tavern, earliest first
Year	What	Source
1779	Claimed founding	The pub
c.1790	Present building	Building fabric
1800	First record of a drinking house here	National Register of Historic Places

What to look for inside

Claims 'the oldest bourbon bar in the world'
Louis-Philippe of France stayed in 1797
Damaged by fire in 1998

Visiting

Old Talbott Tavern is in Bardstown, United States, at 107 West Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown, KY 40004. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

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