Bourbon County! What!?!

Kentucky was originally a part of Fincastle County Virginia before statehood in 1792. And when originally divided up but Virginia's legislature, it was made up of just three counties... we have 120 counties today! These three original counties were named for Thomas Jefferson , governor of Virginia at the time, Marquis de La Fayette , French General who assisted in the American Revolutionary War, and Revolutionary War general, Benjamin Lincoln , grandfather of Abraham.

Once they started dividing the Kentucky county up, the did so honoring more of these war hero's. So in 1785 they divided off the first county; Bourbon County. It was named for King Louis XVI's contributions to the Revolutionary War.

The King was a member of the House of Bourbon, pronounced with a bit of growl in your throat! The Bourbon Dynasty ruled France from 1272 until 1792, when it was overthrown in the French Revolution. Power was restored briefly in 1814, and again in 1815, with the fall of the first French Empire. They ruled entirely from then until 1830 when overthrown in the July 1830 Revolution. A small faction of the House called the House of Orle'ans ruled from 1830 until 1848, when the House fell for good.

Bourbon County Virginia, later Kentucky, was further divided into what is today 34 of Kentucky's counties. It was a massive county that comprised a good portion of the north eastern portion of our state. The larger area became known as "Old Bourbon". Today, bourbon county is centered and seated by the town of Paris, Kentucky... aw, obviously a lot of French influence there!

So Bourbon County! What does that have to do with Bourbon Whiskey... well, everything! But we will cover that one later!