Featured Image: Georgetown/Scott County Tourism Commission
You can’t separate Georgetown, Kentucky, from its most famous former resident: Elijah Craig. The name may immediately evoke images of the whiskey brand created in his honor, but the real man was much more, including a preacher and a frontier explorer.
When Craig decided to leave his home in Virginia, Kentucky wasn’t yet a state. In 1764, he felt called to evangelize in what was then the wild frontier, following his brothers, who had previously settled there. He became the first pastor of the Great Crossings church and later bought up 1,000 acres of land, founding the village of Lebanon in 1784.
The burgeoning community became the site of one of the paper mills in what would become Kentucky, along with a ferry across the Kentucky River to ease travel. By 1790, some 200 residents called it home—then Lebanon, today Georgetown. It was recognized by the Virginia legislature that year, Kentucky joined the union and became the 15th state in 1792.
But it wasn’t his career as a minister that made him a household name. It was his distilling of bourbon whiskey. According to the 1876 edition of Collins’ Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Vol. I, written by a cousin, he “discovered” bourbon at his mill on the banks of Royal Spring in 1789.
The claim has since been disputed, but what’s nearly certain is that he’s recognized for identifying the importance of aging in charred oak barrels to impart the delicious caramel flavor we’ve come to love about “America’s spirit.” He may have been the first to do so, either through an accidental fire charring his barrels or using charred barrels to begin with.
While we don’t have Craig’s exact words, he likely would have remarked about the importance of Kentucky’s limestone-rich spring water and found it remarkable just how many people have come to this part of the world and the joy bourbon brings to refined palates everywhere.
Indeed, he did take the recipe to his grave when he died in 1808. It’s believed he is buried somewhere in Georgetown, but the exact location has never been identified. And to say that bourbon became a multibillion-dollar industry, bringing “good folk” to Kentucky, is putting it lightly. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail draws over 2 million visitors annually alone.
You can still visit and experience the place where Craig lived, worked, and left his mark in Georgetown. Royal Spring, the site of his “discovery” and the old paper mill, still has the baptismal steps from its heyday. The school Craig founded, later called Georgetown College, is still open. Craig was also involved with the local fire department, serving as fire chief, and in other civic and commercial dealings.
Descendants of Craig’s still live in town and, perhaps most notably, he’s been honored with a spirit brand under Heaven Hill. Since 1986, the company has produced several award-winning small-batch bourbons and a rye whiskey. Each summer, Georgetown/Scott County Tourism honors the man behind the legacy with a limited-release Private Barrel Pick of Elijah Craig. The year’s upcoming release is called Bourbon Genesis II: The Founder’s Sip. And none of it would have been possible if a Virginia pastor hadn’t gone wandering at a Kentucky mill.
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| This article is presented in partnership with Georgetown/Scott County Tourism Commission, a Modern South Founding Partner.
