My Old Kentucky Home State Park

Love going here with the family. I love visiting the home also. Such nostalgia!

The campground is why I give this one star. We drove from Nashville and wanted a layover before driving on. This campground is nothing but the backyard of the golf cart storage area. It has only a handful of sites that are in a circle centered around the restroom/​shower house.
The ambience is nothing but the back of a golf course, the back of the golf cart house and a neighborhood across the street. McDonald’s is just a couple of blocks up the street and the entire campground is in the middle of the city.
This is not what I expected from a «State Park.»
We immediately moved on and drove another hour and a half north east to another state park which is much better.
I do not repeat not recommend this park for any type of camping activity.

This is one of the strangest state parks I’ve seen.
Granted, I’m not super into Stephen Foster, nor am I a Kentuckian, so please don’t hold that against me. I also did not camp here, so I can’t speak for that part.
So other than the campground, 98% of the park is a private golf course with many signs telling you to stay out. The theatre for the Stephen Foster story is another bit, and the rest is a gift shop/​event space and the tiny eponymous home. The home is only open on guided tour, and not much to look at otherwise, especially that it’s sandwiched between the golf course and parking lot. Without a tour you can peek in the windows, but there isn’t much in there.
So other than a so-​so gift shop, not much reason to go. Unless you have golf clubs or theatre tickets.

This is one of my favorite state parks. The campground is small and very clean and it’s convenient to the distilleries if you’re doing the Bourbon Trail. The golf course is well manicured and challenging. My favorite thing to do is browse the gift shop. They have some wonderful, good quality gifts at reasonable prices. Of course no visit is complete without a tour of MY Old Kentucky Home. And for the true experience, go see the live version of the Stephen Foster Story. Don’t miss this park if you’re visiting the area.

I stayed in My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, KY in 1988. It was my first time there. Me and my dad stayed overnight in our R.V. The Trojan Prince at the State Park. We also went to see the outdoor show The Stephen Foster Story while we were there. This is the OLD KENTUCKY HOME from his song. The show was good but I definitely needed to use the hand fan that they gave us. See the photo.

My husband and I had a great time celebrating the International Bourbon Day there during the opening Night of «The Stephen Foster Story,» a Broadway-​style musical. We enjoyed free drinks, appetizers, and the show. The setting was very pretty and the musical was great.

My parents live in Lexington and my husband and I live in Nashville. We have been working on completing the bourbon trail, one stop at a time, and were looking for a place to meet up between the two cities for a mother’s day picnic excursion. We wanted to add a little history/​culture as well as find a good spot for our picnic which led us to visit My Old Kentucky Home.
We were there on a Sunday morning, and our group was given a private tour of the home, as no other guests were there at that time. Our tour guide was really fun and particularly knowledgeable when we asked her questions, both about history and the home’s décor. I learned an incredible amount about old-​school decorating.
There are also several picnic tables near the parking lot, as well as some well-​kept grounds, that worked very well for our outing.
Apparently they do candlelight tours between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that’d be a neat time to go back.