Chilli Storm

First settled by European Americans in 1780, Bardstown is the second oldest city in Kentucky. Named county seat of the newly created Nelson County, Virginia (now Kentucky) in 1784, the town was formally established in 1788. It was incorporated by the state assembly in 1838. Reflecting the westward migration of Americans over the "Blue Ridge" after the Revolutionary War, Bardstown was also the first center of Roman Catholicism west of the Appalachian Mountains in the original western frontier territories of the United States. The Diocese of Bardstown was established on February 8, 1808, by Pope Pius VII, (1742-1823, reigned 1800-1823), to serve all Catholics between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River.