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The Bishop Flaget
Log House
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A symbol of the rich history of Kentucky Catholicism is found in this two-story log house located at the property of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Nelson County, just outside of Historic Bardstown, Kentucky.
The log house is on the National Register of Historic Places and was originally built as a single floor structure by Thomas and Ann Gough Howard in 1795. Mr. Howard willed the structure, along with 369 acres of land and $5,000, to the Catholic Church in 1810. Shortly thereafter, a second floor was added to the house, as well as outside clapboard siding and indoor paneling.
The house became the first home of St. Thomas Seminary, the first west of the Alleghenies, and Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget’s residence for seven years. This was also the founding site of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, established in 1812. It is the earliest structure related to the Catholic faith still standing in the Midwest section of the United States.
The Archdiocese of Louisville was founded as the Diocese of Bardstown in 1808, nearly 25 years after the first Catholic Pioneers arrived in Kentucky. Bishop Flaget, the first bishop of Bardstown, was consecrated in 1810 and arrived in Bardstown in 1811. He lived in the log house from 1812 to 1819. His work and presence have been felt throughout the vast original diocese, which included the present states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and half of Arkansas.
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