Editing Bourbon County, Kentucky (section)

==History==

===Old Bourbon===
Bourbon County was established in 1785 from a portion of [[Fayette County, Kentucky|Fayette County, Virginia]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collins, Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZFQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA26 |title=Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 2 |publisher=Collins & Company |year=1882 |pages=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bourbon County |url=http://www.kyenc.org/entry/b/BOURB02.html |access-date=June 7, 2013 |publisher=Kyenc.org}}</ref> and named after the French [[House of Bourbon]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ |title=The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1 |publisher=Kentucky State Historical Society |year=1903 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ/page/n34 34]}}</ref> in gratitude for [[Louis XVI of France]]'s assistance during the [[American Revolutionary War]].

Bourbon County, Virginia, originally comprised 34 of Kentucky's 120 current counties, including the current Bourbon County.<ref>City of [[Cynthiana, Kentucky|Cynthiana]], [http://www.cynthianaky.com/history2.htm "Early History of Kentucky County Virginia"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114150135/http://www.cynthianaky.com/history2.htm |date=January 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Edge">''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture'', John T. Edge, volume editor, Volume 7: Foodways, p. 128.</ref><ref name=CowderyNaming/> This larger area later became known as ''Old Bourbon''. Bourbon became part of the new state of Kentucky when it was [[Admission to the Union|admitted to the Union]] in 1792.

===Birthplace of Bourbon whiskey===
[[Whiskey]] was an early product of the area, and whiskey barrels from the area were marked ''Old Bourbon'' when they were shipped downriver from the local port on the [[Ohio River]].<ref name="CowderyNaming">{{Cite journal |last=Cowdery |first=Charles K. |date=July 1996 |title=How Bourbon Whiskey Really Got Its Famous Name |journal=The Bourbon Country Reader |volume=3 |number=1}}</ref><ref name="CowderyStraight">{{Cite book |last=Cowdery |first=Charles K. |title=Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey |year=2004 |isbn=9780975870303 |page=25}}</ref>  As it was made mostly from [[Maize|corn]] (maize), it had a distinctive flavor, and the name ''bourbon'' came to be used to distinguish it from other regional whiskey styles, such as Monongahela, a product of western [[Pennsylvania]], which may have generally been a [[rye whiskey]]. The use of the term ''Old'' in the phrase ''Old Bourbon'', was likely misconstrued as a reference to the aging of the whiskey rather than part of the name of the geographic area.<ref name=CowderyNaming/> The port, originally known as ''Limestone'', now [[Maysville, Kentucky|Maysville]], was in Bourbon County until the borders were redrawn in 1789 when it became part of the Mason County of Virginia, and it is now in [[Mason County, Kentucky]].<ref name=CowderyNaming/> Thirty-four modern Kentucky counties were once part of the original Bourbon County, including the current county of that name.<ref name=Edge/>

Except for a few distilleries that were authorized to produce it for medicinal purposes, the bourbon industry was wiped out in 1919 when [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] took effect. Kentucky adopted prohibition a year earlier than the national prohibition.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Warren |first=Jim |date=October 18, 2011 |title=Revisiting Prohibition: Kentucky was ahead of the times |url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article44131437.html |access-date=February 4, 2018 |work=[[Lexington Herald-Leader]] |language=en |via=kentucky.com}}</ref>  Within the boundaries of Bourbon County as it stands today there were, by some counts, 26 distilleries. All of these were shut down in 1919, and no distilleries resumed operation there until late 2014, a period of 95 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buchanan |first=Andrew |date=July 25, 2016 |title=Gurkha Partners with Hartfield & Co. for Bourbon Collection |url=https://www.hartfieldandcompany.com/press/2016/7/25/gurkha-partners-with-hartfield-co-for-bourbon-collection |access-date=June 11, 2020 |website=hartfieldandcompany.com |publisher=Hartfield & Co}}</ref>  At present, alcohol production and sales in Kentucky are regulated by [[alcohol laws of Kentucky|a patchwork of laws]] which the Kentucky Supreme Court called a "maze of obscure statutory language".<ref name="Buy or sell">{{Cite news |last=Brammer |first=Jack |date=August 10, 2012 |title=Want to buy or sell an alcoholic drink in Kentucky? That'll depend on where you are |url=http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/10/2294424/want-to-buy-or-sell-an-alcoholic.html |access-date=August 24, 2012 |work=[[Lexington Herald-Leader]]}}</ref>

===Courthouse=== 
The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1872 and 1901, resulting in the loss of county records. The current courthouse is the county's fourth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hogan, Roseann Reinemuth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hAVlVS29NKIC&q=%22bell+county%22+1914+1918+1976&pg=PA197 |title=Kentucky Ancestry: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research |date=1992 |publisher=Ancestry Publishing |isbn=9780916489496 |pages=197 |access-date=July 26, 2013}}</ref>