First settled in the late 1700s, Georgetown, Kentucky, put its name on the map with the invention of bourbon whiskey. “Elijah Craig founded Georgetown and he’s known as the father of bourbon, so we have a little historical marker downtown that says: ‘The Birthplace of Bourbon,’” explains Dylan Marson, public relations assistant for Georgetown/Scott County Tourism. “We’ve got a nice historic downtown area with a lot of small businesses, restaurants and shopping, a lot of history down there, especially surrounding bourbon history.” In the 1980s, the city’s reputation changed entirely when Toyota built its largest manufacturing plant in the world in Georgetown. Since then, the city’s population has exploded. In 2023 Georgetown's population was around 39,000 people, or nearly four times its population in 1980. “There’s folks like myself who’ve been here a long time, but we’re in the minority now,” says lifelong resident and Scott County Schools district athletic director, Daniel Wells. “We’ve had an extreme amount of growth in our community, but we have a small-town feel still.” In addition to being an auto manufacturing town, Georgetown is home to Georgetown College and Georgetown Community Hospital.
Rev. Elijah Craig first distilled bourbon in Georgetown in 1789.
Georgetown College offers local students over 40 undergraduate degree programs.
Georgetown Community Hospital is located in the heart of Mt Vernon.
The Georgetown Toyota plant is the company's largest, at 1,300 acres and growing.
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Georgetown’s historic homes, acreage properties and rentals
Outside of Downtown Georgetown, single-family homes range from an average value of $226,000 in Boston to $454,000 in West Scott County. “There are still some areas on the outskirts where you can kind of live out there and have some acreage but still be close to the city,” Wells says. In Downtown Georgetown, however, about 52% of the population rents their homes, paying around $1,200 monthly, while the average single-family home value for the area hovers around $247,000. While Downtown Georgetown and Boston’s streets are lined with preserved Queen Annes and historic bungalows, West Scott County has farmhouses, Colonial Revivals and new Traditional homes.
On the western side of Boston, homebuyers can find over-sized, luxury homes.
The average household income in Bradford Place is around $104,167.
South Scott County is a clean, rural neighborhood just outside of Georgetown, KY.
Georgetown features many homes built in the early 1900's.
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Horseback riding, Scott County Park and Yuko-En Friendship Garden
Known for Thoroughbred horses and bluegrass fields, Georgetown does not disappoint when it comes to outdoor recreation. “We have great horseback riding,” Marson says. “Whispering Woods does trail rides, and many tourists visit, but locals also go there. I think almost everyone on my team has gone at some point. It’s a super accessible place to get on a horse and go riding.” Wells adds, “Old Friends has retired racehorses. Old champion horses retire to a farm here. People can visit them, feed them and do all kinds of neat stuff.” The 67-acre Scott County Park features soccer fields, a dog park, picnic shelters and a fishing pond. “Downtown, there’s Royal Spring Park, which is right where the ‘Birthplace of Bourbon’ sign is, and the local legend is that’s where water was drawn to make the very first batch of bourbon. Just down the road, there’s Yuko-En Friendship Garden, the official Kentucky-Japan friendship garden that our sister city Tahara in Japan donated a large chunk of, so it’s a symbolic Japanese garden that represents that friendship.”
Yuko-en on the Elkhorn Park is 5.5-acres and features a Japanese style stroll garden.
A young rider practicing on a warm autumn day in Southeast Scott County.
Old Friends in Georgetown houses retired race horses who have won over $300 Million.
Scott County Park in Northeast Georgetown boasts a fishing dock.
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Scott County Schools and Georgetown College
Scott County Schools receives a B rating from Niche and ranks on the site as the sixth best school district in the Lexington area. “Our school district’s motto is, ‘It’s the best place to live and learn in the state of Kentucky,’” Wells says. The district has one preschool, nine elementary schools, three middle schools and four high schools. Students may also attend one of the nearby private schools like Providence Christian Academy, which enrolls two year olds through high school students, or St. John Catholic School, which enrolls students in preschool through eighth grade. Georgetown is also home to a small liberal arts university, Georgetown College. According to Niche, Georgetown College is one of the top three colleges students from Scott County Public Schools attend. “The college is very much attached to downtown, so you have many people walking through their campus,” Marson says. “They’ve got a lot of art installations and art galleries that people enjoy.”
St. John Catholic School provides Pre-school through 8th grade, Catholic education.
Great Crossing High School is ranked 60th within Kentucky.
Providence Christian Academy in South Scott County serves preschool through 12th grade.
1,200 undergraduate students attend Georgetown College in Georgetown.
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Main Street art and the Festival of the Horse
Along Main Street, extending onto Georgetown College’s campus, residents can explore the work of local artists like photographer John Hockensmith, who built his portfolio with photos of the equine industry. While these exhibits around downtown are open throughout the year, artisans receive additional attention during the city’s annual festivities, including the Fourth of July Parade. “The biggest event of the year is Festival of the Horse, which happens every September, the weekend after Labor Day. It's a three-day event with parades every day, a lot of craft vendors line Main Street and downtown; there’s also live music throughout the whole thing and entertainment for kids,” Marson says. “It’s a community event that everyone looks forward to year-round and it gets about 25,000 to 30,000 visitors every year.”
The Festival of the Horse is a 3-day event to commemorate horse heritage.
Festival of the Horse has been a celebration of horse heritage for 43 years.
Festival of the Horse has been a celebration of horse heritage for 43 years.
Festival of the Horse has been a celebration of horse heritage for 43 years.
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Bluegrass RIDE, G-Tran and the Blue Grass Airport
Georgetown is located 14 miles north of Lexington, 19 miles east of Frankfort, 70 miles south of Cincinnati and 71 miles east of Louisville. It’s a car-dependent city with some public transit: the Bluegrass RIDE bus provides routes around the city, but most residents use cars to get around. “We do have a G-Tran, which gets you around certain points of the city, but that is fairly limited, so most traffic coming through the area is through the interstate and other smaller highways that cut through here,” Marson says. “We are right at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 64, so we get a lot of traffic coming through our area, people going and coming from Cincinnati going to Louisville, Frankfurt, and Lexington, of course, which is just right next door to us. We also get a lot of traffic from people visiting Kentucky or going up to see popular attractions like the Ark Encounter [a life-size Noah's Ark], which is just 5 minutes north of us.” The Census Bureau reports that it takes residents, on average, a little more than 20 minutes to travel to work. The city also has its own medical center, Georgetown Community Hospital, and when traveling out of town, most fly out of the Blue Grass Airport, 16 miles south.
Shopping, dining and Country Boy Brewing
Along Downtown Georgetown’s Main Street and Broadway Street, long-time local businesses draw people into city center. “We’ve got a lot of cool places and a great bar scene,” Marson says. “We’ve got a really cool Irish pub called Slainte Public House where the owners went to Dublin and did their best to recreate the pub scene from there. There’s also Fava’s of Georgetown, and that’s been family-owned since 1910. It’s the small-town diner that everyone’s grandpa and grandpa’s grandpa has gone to, so it’s very much a staple of the community in the downtown area.” In addition to the bar and restaurant scene, Downtown Georgetown is also home to a flourishing quilting community and several boutique shops. “There’s an awesome quilting shop called Birdsong Quilting that a lot of people drive in here, specifically for that,” Marson says. Wells goes on to add, “Of course, outside of town, there are all the chains too. Our options used to just be Burger King and McDonald’s – now, we have access to any kind of food we want.” He notes that the city is also home to several popular breweries, including Country Boy Brewing, which has found acclaim beyond just the Bluegrass State. “Someone who’s from Scott County started Country Boy Brewing and built a major plant in Georgetown,” Wells says. “They have a taproom here, but they service all of the Southeast. It’s a small-town brewery, but it’s become a large-scale deal.”
Country Boy Brewing has been serving in Georgetown since 2017.
Boston music-lovers meet at the Slainte Public House on Open-mic Nights each Thursday.
Fava's Restaurant has been serving Downtown Georgetown residents for over 20 years.
Visitors from surrounding communities visit Georgetown for a variety of boutique shops.
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Mild weather and low crime rates in Scott County
Georgetown’s humid subtropical climate gives the city fairly hot summers and cooler winters. The county’s violent crime rate is significantly lower than the national average. In December 2023, Scott County reported 26 violent crimes per 100,000 people, while the U.S. at large reported 119.
On average, homes in Georgetown, KY sell after 36 days on the market compared to the national average of 49 days. The median sale price for homes in Georgetown, KY over the last 12 months is $345,428, up 7% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
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