Prohibition in Bardstown ─ Bourbon, Bootlegging & Saloons

Some Bardstown, Kentucky residents argued for an alcohol ban as early as the mid-1800s despite the fact that whiskey and bourbon were local staples. When Prohibition finally arrived, independent and inventive residents secretly kept the city wet. A deacon once stored whiskey in a baptismal pool. Seventy-year-old Aunt Be-At Hurst allegedly made her homebrew out of her bathtub. Some locals even burned distillery warehouses to cover up thefts. Crime ran so rampant that revenue collector Robert H. Lucas threatened to have the governor summon the state militia. Join historians Dixie Hibbs and Doris Settles as they detail the history of Bardstown booze.