Talbott Tavern: A step back into history (Bardstown, KY)

Author: debbie foley
Date of Trip: October 2006

My family and I are fascinated by historical landmarks. They preserve who we are and allow us to step back into a period of time to experience what life must have been like for those alive during that era. I am originally from a city in Kentucky called Elizabethtown. For years we have been going by a historical landmark in Bardstown, Ky. called Talbott Tavern. One day we decided to stop and explore this wonderful old Inn built back in 1792.

Once inside the structure of this old building we could feel the past coming alive.. There was the original bar from this period of time, the hardwood floors, the stair case that goes to the rooms upstairs were many have stayed from Abraham Lincoln to Jesse James. Each room upstairs has a special name and design named for the person who actually has stayed there.

But even more interesting is the fact that this wonderfully preserved inn is actually haunted. We had a first hand experience the night we had dinner in the restaurant. The dinning room has old wagon wheels upon the ceiling for the lighting, the bar in the authentic old west style, the walls are of this beautiful river rock. So just after we all had finished eating, my husband and his son stepped out to go to the restroom which was in another area of the inn. I was sitting in the dinning room with the manager and a couple from Liverpool, England when all of a sudden we heard a loud slam and a bell ringing loudly.

The manger went to investigate and found nothing to be seen, we got up and went to look and also saw nothing…But this big wooden door that had been lock earlier because the inn had closed was wide open with no sign of anyone…My husband and his son came out of the restroom and said what was the loud noise they heard. The manger explained this happens alot, sometimes the ghosts like to show off and scare the guest..I always knew of the old wise tales of the inn but had never believed this till now…The adrenalin rush that was going through our veins was unbelievable and fascinating at the same time…

The manager also told us, that in the ladies restroom, that a certain woman dressed in blue liked to appear in the bathroom mirror while you are standing in front of it washing your hands…She was a newly wed who had stayed there and some how her husband had died there…so now she haunts the inn…This wonderful old bed and breakfast inn has a historical area explaining its history upstairs…You can go out at night and sit on the balcony that overlooks the town…and feel as if you have stepped back to a era of buggies and horse drawn carriages and ladies in elegant long dresses who all have the charm and grace of the 1800’s. You can feel this the minute you walk through the door.