Bardstown has no movie theater, but a wet day here is easier to fill than you might think, because most of the town’s best experiences happen under a roof. Tour the Federal Hill mansion at My Old Kentucky Home, give the Civil War museum complex on E. Broadway a couple of hours, browse the free Oscar Getz Museum of whiskey history, and settle into a distillery tasting room for the afternoon. If the rain sets in for good, the town’s golf simulator stays open until 11 p.m.
Rainy day ideas at a glance
| Idea | How long | Cost | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil War museum complex | 2 hours or more | Adults $15, ages 7 to 15 $6 | History fans, families |
| My Old Kentucky Home mansion tour | One guided tour | Adults $18, ages 6 to 17 $12 | Everyone |
| Oscar Getz Museum | An hour or so | Free | Bourbon curious, budget travelers |
| Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience | Depends on the tasting | Varies by tasting | Bourbon fans 21+ |
| Bourbon & Bunkers golf simulator | As long as you like | Call for rates | Groups, golfers |
| Sipz & Scentz candle bar | One sitting | Varies by candle | Friends, girls’ trips |
| Kentucky Railway Museum | Half a day | Museum $7 adults; rides from $14 | Families, train fans |
Indoor history
Civil War museum complex
The Civil War museum complex at 310 E. Broadway is the best rainy-day anchor in town. One ticket covers the Civil War Museum of the Western Theater, billed as one of the largest Civil War museums in the country, plus the Women’s Civil War Museum and the Gen. Hal Moore Military Museum, so you can easily spend two hours without stepping outside (Old Bardstown Village, the fourth part, is a set of historic buildings you walk between). Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, veterans and first responders and $6 for ages 7 to 15, with free parking. It is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 27, weekends only from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, and closed from Dec. 2 to Feb. 28. Last tickets sell at 4:15 p.m.
My Old Kentucky Home
The Federal Hill mansion tour at My Old Kentucky Home is almost entirely indoors, with more than 75 percent of the furnishings original to the house and a guide in period costume who sings the state song at the end. Tours leave on the hour, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Wednesday through Sunday only from Jan. 2 to March 15), and are capped at 25 people. Rainy days push everyone indoors at once, so buy tickets online in advance or arrive early. Bring an umbrella for the short walk from the visitor center.
Free museums and a working church
The Oscar Getz Museum in Spalding Hall is free, with donations welcome, and holds more than 5,000 artifacts, from Abraham Lincoln’s liquor license to moonshine stills. It is open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. (Getz Museum). Next door, the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, begun in 1816, charges no admission; visit outside Mass times.
For a tour with a shiver, Jailer’s Inn on Stephen Foster Avenue offers daily tours of the old Nelson County Jail, used from 1797 to 1987 and once named one of the most haunted places in America by the Travel Channel; the unrestored 1874 back jail is the real draw. See Jailer’s Inn and the old jail. From April through November, the Bardstown-Nelson County African American Heritage Museum in the 1812 Union Church opens Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bourbon under a roof
Rain is a fine excuse to spend the afternoon tasting. The Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience on Gilkey Run Road has galleries devoted to the Heaven Hill family, Elijah Craig and Larceny, plus an 11-minute show in the 1935 Distillery Theater, and the Five Brothers Bar & Kitchen takes last orders at 4:30 p.m. The visitor center is open Monday to Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
Downtown, you can stay nearly dry going door to door. Chicken Cock Whiskey Circa 1856 on E. Stephen Foster Avenue pours guided flights until 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, and the Circa 1856 page strongly encourages reservations. Old SteelHouse’s tasting room opened at 124 N. Third St. in October 2025.
A word on full distillery tours: many walk outdoors between buildings and into rickhouses, which stay cool even in summer. Bring a rain jacket and closed shoes. Tastings everywhere are 21 and over, and wet roads are a poor place for a tasting-day driver, so arrange a ride.
Games, crafts and costumes
Bourbon & Bunkers, the golf simulator lounge at The Trail Hotel on New Haven Road, is open every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a private bar for up to 20 guests and a cocktail menu. Call (502) 393-4150 to book a bay.
At Sipz & Scentz, the pour-your-own candle bar at 123 N. Third St., you pick a scent and make a candle from start to finish; it is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with late Thursdays by appointment. A block or two away, Bardstown Old Time Portraits at 106 W. Flaget dresses you in vintage costume, from Wild West outlaws to 1800s finery, for a sepia portrait.
Then there is shopping: downtown’s boutiques, a bookshop and antique and vintage shops sit close together around Court Square, so a rainy stroll with an umbrella works. Start with the shopping guide, and dry off afterward with a malt at the Hurst Drug Store soda fountain on N. Third Street (closed Sundays).
Rain-proof rides
Heritage train rides are a good bet when it pours. The Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, about 25 minutes south, runs climate-controlled cars (there are no restrooms on board, so use the depot first), and its exhibit hall has a large HO model train layout. Back in town, the My Old Kentucky Dinner Train serves a multi-course meal in restored 1940s dining cars, a cozy way to watch wet countryside roll by.
What Bardstown doesn’t have, and where to find it
Bardstown’s eight-screen Keystone Cinemas closed April 28, 2022, and no theater has replaced it. For a movie, drive about 35 minutes west to Elizabethtown, where Crowne Pointe Theatre and the Republic Theatres Movie Palace show first-run films. Pair the trip with the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox; the Elizabethtown and Fort Knox day trip has details.
The city’s indoor pool and sports complex, the Bardstown Aquatic & Sports Center, is still under construction, with opening anticipated in late 2026 or early 2027. No escape room operates in town.
A rainy-day plan that works
Start at the Civil War museum complex when it opens at 10 a.m. and give it a full two hours. Have lunch downtown, then walk (umbrella up) to the free Getz Museum and the Basilica next door. Mid-afternoon, head to a distillery tasting room with a designated driver or a hired ride, or pour a candle on N. Third Street if bourbon is not your thing. After dinner, book a bay at Bourbon & Bunkers and play 18 holes without getting wet. Families can swap the tasting for a Saturday afternoon train in New Haven, where the regular 2 p.m. excursion rides in climate-controlled cars.
If rain hits a show night
In summer, The Stephen Foster Story plays outdoors in the state park. If weather prevents the outdoor show, the performance moves to Nelson County High School with a meet-and-greet, and you get a rain check for a future outdoor show. The Live at the Park concerts go on rain or shine, so pack a poncho. For the odds of a wet day by season, check Bardstown weather by month.
