Northern Kentucky has a new faith-based attraction.
The new Kentucky Faith Trail extends from Wayne County to Bardstown to Northern Kentucky. It includes the local stops, Creation Museum, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Mother of God Catholic Church, and the Ark Encounter.
The trail has 11 faith-based experiences throughout the state that allow travelers to explore the commonwealth’s religious heritage while lingering longer in the Kentucky towns to experience what else they have to offer.
President and CEO of meetNKY, Julie Kirkpatrick, said the state of Kentucky challenged some of its counties to develop a collaborative tourism idea. Kirkpatrick said the collaborative aspect is a wonderful thing for tourism.
Working with counties like Grant, Wayne, and Mercer, to name a few, Kirkpatrick said they began thinking about what they all had in common.
“So, we knew that we could do something good around the idea of faith, bring more visitors to Kentucky, kind of have them go out and explore areas that they may not really get to,” Kirkpatrick said. “You know, not a lot of people know where Monticello in Wayne County is, but it’s right there on Lake Cumberland. It’s a beautiful spot, and they’ve got this amazing historical site there.”
She said they took a lot of inspiration from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail when creating the faith trail.
“The Kentucky Bourbon Trail brings visitors that spend more time in the states, they spend more money, and they go to all parts of the state,” Kirkpatrick said. “So why couldn’t we also do that with something like the faith trail, which, if you really go back and look at history, Kentucky was settled for a couple of reasons, and religious freedom was one of them.”
Director of Tourism/Economic Development and The Chamber in Grant County Jamie Baker said while the Ark Encounter is drawing thousands of visitors already, being included as part of this new project may not draw any additional visitors, but it gives them the opportunity to partner with other attractions and get their message out to faith-based travelers.
“Any time we can find ways to work cooperatively with other partners across the state is good for all of our attractions,” Baker said. “It gives travelers, who may have been thinking of Kentucky as just bourbon and horse country, another reason to check out many other attractions that Kentucky has to offer.”
The trail will put more eyes on Northern Kentucky, Kirkpatrick said, as a family and faith visit. The Ark Encounter in Grant County and the Creation Museum in Boone County are significant draws for family and faith travel. Still, Kirkpatrick said that Mother of God Catholic Church and Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, both located in Covington, need more attention.
“You have so many docents who work for both of those facilities and are just so proud of the history and the tradition, and we’re really looking forward to bringing in more visitors to take advantage of that,” she said.
Kirkpatrick said a unique piece of Kentucky’s history is meetinghouses, which include the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. There are multiple meetinghouses along the trail, including the oldest freestanding log meetinghouse in the commonwealth, Old Mulkey Meetinghouse.
Manager of Old Mulkey Meetinghouse State Historic Site Sheila Rush said meetinghouses are significant to Kentucky because they played a huge role in its pioneer-era history.
“As Kentucky was being settled, our early pioneers held town meetings and worship in one another’s homes until, eventually, the communities became too large to congregate in a home,” Rush said. “When that happened, the community would build a ‘meetinghouse.’ In addition to worship, various public meetings may have been held in the meetinghouse, for example, school, town meetings, or court.”
As for the significance of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Rush said it was an “architectural wonder” built to serve the needs of an increasing Catholic population in Covington around the turn of the 20th century.
“While several of the sites on the Kentucky Faith Trail exist for historical purposes, the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is an active place of worship and one of only 85 minor basilicas in the United States,” Rush said.
She said meetinghouses were added to the Kentucky Faith Trail route because acts of “notable religious significance” occurred within them.
Kirkpatrick said the counties also wanted to look into how to keep folks in the area longer.
“How do we show them more Kentucky, show off some of the more rural areas of our state, get them going deeper into the commonwealth spending more money, of course, but really kind of just falling in love with the whole entire Kentucky experience,” she said.
From an NKY standpoint, Kirkpatrick said, if people are coming up through Nashville and making their way through Bardstown and Harrodsburg, they could potentially spend five days in the state now as opposed to three for just the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.
Travelers can find a trail map, and Kirkpatrick said they are also getting ready to roll out a digital app so people can take pictures and upload them, plan an itinerary, etc.
On the Kentucky Faith Trail website, a “Plan your Visit” section offers recommendations for other local attractions in the cities along the way.
“I want Kentucky Faith Trail people to be coming to Libby’s Southern Comfort in Covington, going out to 859 (The 859 Taproom and Grill) in Florence, just staying here longer, seeing our aquarium, seeing BB Riverboats, exploring some of the great outdoor opportunities that we have here in the state,” Kirkpatrick said.
She said the places selected for the trail are excited to be involved.
“Foremost is that they’re places of worship and places of faith, but at the same time, they’re about opening people’s hearts and minds,” Kirkpatrick said. “So, bringing in new visitors, this just kind of gives them an opportunity to shine. We really like that it’s a collection that kind of weaves together a Kentucky experience. So, all of that was a real win for us.”
