Bardstown: Most Beautiful Small Town in America | Kentucky Life | KET
Bardstown, Ky was named Most Beautiful Small Town in America in the Rand McNally/USA Today 2012 Best of the Road competition. Kentucky Life talks to Kim Huston, author of Small Town Sexy, about the iconic streets, shops, cafes, and historic neighborhoods in the Bourbon Capital of the World.
A total of 650 towns were nominated, and Bardstown pulled out all the stops for the offical judges' visit, with people lining the streets for a parade. The Rand McNally team of Nikki and Dusty Green spent a few days seeing the sights and getting to know the people. When the online voting was done, this Nelson County town — home to Barton 1792, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, and the Ky Bourbon Festival — was the winner.
(Note: Danville was among the towns vying for Most Beautiful, making the final six; and Murray was named Friendliest.)
For more videos celebrating the people and places of the Bluegrass State, visit
Kentucky River Pool 14 Beattyville KY
Trip on the three forks of the Kentucky River on Pool 14 near Beattyville, KY November 7, 2011 video by Ken Cooke and Jeff Soule.
Visit Eastern Kentucky
This brief video will show you some of the amazing activities and events we have in Eastern Kentucky this summer!
In Prestonsburg, Kentucky at the East Kentucky Science Center, we have the Hubble Space Telescope Exhibit where everyone can have a fun hands on experience learning about the Hubble Telescope! Adults are $6.00 and Students and Seniors are $4.00.
Then in Pikeville, we have the University of Pikeville that has the Khirbet el-Maqatir and a Journey through Biblical History exhibit. This walk-through exhibit will feature over 250 artifacts from the world of the Bible. Of particular interest, will be artifacts from the site of Khirbet el-Maqatir - the likely location of Ai mentioned in the book of Joshua and the possible site of Ephraim of the book of John. Standard admission is $10.
Pikeville is also a great place for some adventure! Zip, Saddle and Paddle is a great package that will let you zip line through the mountains, ride horseback on our trails, and paddle down the Levisa Fork river a certified Blue Water Trail through the Cut-Through Project for $69!
Come to Eastern Kentucky, we have something for everyone!
Most Beautiful Small Town
Hidden Trails of Red River Gorge: Eagle Point Buttress Loop
A hike (~4 miles) along unmarked trails near the Red River and the Osborne Bend Trail.
To reach the trailhead (Osborne Bend): From rest area at exit #33 off of the Mountain State Parkway, turn left, and return to the Mountain State Parkway for 8 miles. Take Exit 40 for for KY-15/KY-715 toward Beattyville. (0.3 miles) Turn right at KY-15 N/KY-715 N. (0.7 miles) Take the 1st right onto KY-715 N(6.3 miles) Then park in well marked parking area on right side of road just after crossing the concrete bridge. (thank you toredrivergorge.com for driving directions)
Always show respect for surroundings, not only for living things but also the rock formations there. This video depicts the illegal defiling of rock surfaces but we do not encourage or participate in this behavior. Anyone who leaves trash, injures trees, plants or animals, or destroys the ancient rock formations at Red River Gorge is reprehensible and contributing to the degradation of a pristine park.
Below are a series of GPS coordinates corresponding to some landmarks on this hike. These were again taken from the very helpful website
GPS Coordinates of start of hike to Eagle Point Buttress on unmarked trail by river
37, 49, 13
83, 34, 30
GPS Coordinates of campsite
37, 49, 31
83, 33, 52
GPS Coordinates of unmarked roadbed converting to trail
37, 49, 34
83, 33, 43
GPS Coordinates Under Cliffs
37, 49, 36
83, 33, 41
GPS Coordinates of Beginning of climb to steep switchbacks
37, 49, 34
83, 33, 40
GPS Coordinates of Top of switchbacks
37, 49, 36
83, 33, 36
GPS Coordinates of Eagle Point Buttress
37, 49, 35
83, 33, 44
GPS Coordinates of Roadbed
37, 49, 36
83, 33, 33
GPS Coordinates of Intersection of Osborne Bend Trail #240 and Unmarked Eagle Point Buttress Trail
37, 50, 16
83, 33, 56
Note: This video depicts only a tiny fraction of the vast wilderness around the Red River. Plan ahead to avoid dehydration, exhaustion, inclement weather, and dangerous falls. Getting lost will obviously exacerbate all the above risks.
Special thanks to the following artists for their musical inspiration:
Goo Goo Dolls
Antonio Pinto & Ed Côrtez
Kai Rosenkranz
Nine Inch Nails
The Beach Boys
Brian Eno
The Tubes
Nobuo Uematsu
Video Filmed on 07/10/2016 at Red River Gorge.
KY-30 in Jackson and Owsley counties, Kentucky
This is a drive along a 20-mile stretch of KY 30 in Jackson and Owsley counties in southeastern KY. This is one of the most economically depressed areas of the state, and this road is a large reason why. It's the area's major access route to I-75, yet it's narrow, hilly, crooked and has no shoulders. The Democrat idiots in charge of Kentucky state government in 2008 eliminated reconstruction of this road, long a priority among leaders of both parties, from the state's road construction plans. The soundtrack is an apt description of what this road puts the whole region's economy in -- a stranglehold.
Dixie Belle on the Kentucky River
Copperas Creek Valley Arch Tour: Nine Arches in One Hike
A strenuous and sometimes technically challenging hike (~7.5 miles) along unmarked trails near Copperas Creek, as well as the Osborne Bend Trail.
This hike includes at least ten arches: Hopewell Arch, The Copperas Arches (4), Snow Arch, Double Deer Arch, Sandy Arch, Osborne Bend Arch and Unicorn Arch. The hike also passes by Big Trickle Falls and Copperas Falls. Some areas above Copperas Falls do not have distinct paths at all and a compass and GPS are recommended.
To reach the trailhead (Osborne Bend): From rest area at exit #33 off of the Mountain State Parkway, turn left, and return to the Mountain State Parkway for 8 miles. Take Exit 40 for for KY-15/KY-715 toward Beattyville. (0.3 miles) Turn right at KY-15 N/KY-715 N. (0.7 miles) Take the 1st right onto KY-715 N(6.3 miles) Then park in well marked parking area on right side of road just after crossing the concrete bridge. (thank you toredrivergorge.com for driving directions).
Note: This video depicts only a tiny fraction of the vast wilderness around the Red River. Plan ahead to avoid dehydration, exhaustion, inclement weather, and dangerous falls. Getting lost will obviously exacerbate all the above risks.
Special thanks to the following artists for their musical inspiration:
Goo Goo Dolls
Bruce Springsteen
Video Filmed in May 2019 at Red River Gorge.
Hidden Trails of Red River Gorge: Hopewell, Snow, and Double Deer Arches w/ Copperas Falls
A strenuous and challenging hike (~3 miles) along unmarked trails near Copperas Creek and the Osborne Bend Parking area. Hiking to the falls would add an additional 2-3 miles to the total. This hike goes off trail, over creeks and streams, scrambles up steep rock formations, and crosses dangerous cliffs.
To reach the trailhead (Osborne Bend): From rest area at exit #33 off of the Mountain State Parkway, turn left, and return to the Mountain State Parkway for 8 miles. Take Exit 40 for for KY-15/KY-715 toward Beattyville. (0.3 miles) Turn right at KY-15 N/KY-715 N. (0.7 miles) Take the 1st right onto KY-715 N(6.3 miles) Then park in well marked parking area on right side of road just after crossing the concrete bridge. (thank you toredrivergorge.com for driving directions).
Note: This video depicts only a tiny fraction of the vast wilderness around the Red River. Plan ahead to avoid dehydration, exhaustion, inclement weather, and dangerous falls. Getting lost will obviously exacerbate all the above risks.
Special thanks to the following artists for their musical inspiration:
Goo Goo Dolls
Nobuo Uematsu
Paul Romero
Video Filmed on 02/05/17 at Red River Gorge.
Approaching Copperas Waterfall
This is our second time to Copperas Waterfall off Copperas Creek in the Red River Gorge just outside of Beattyville, Kentucky on the Wolfe County line in the Daniel Boone National Forest. It's one of my favorite places to go. The rock shelter is really amazing and people have built a really need pavilion/seating area under it.