HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Col. E.H. Taylor's 1887 castle-style bourbon showplace, abandoned 40 years, now revived
4445 McCracken Pike, Frankfort, KY 40601
Research updated August 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$$
Guided tours and tastings priced per experience; grounds and gardens are free to walk during open hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths through restored distillery buildings and formal gardens along Glenn's Creek.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1887 · Built by Col. E.H. Taylor Jr. · First hospitality-showplace distillery design · 40-year abandonment and 2016 restoration
Col. Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr., a Frankfort banker and distiller who later became known as the father of the modern bourbon industry, built Old Taylor Distillery in 1887 along Glenn's Creek in Millville, straddling the Franklin–Woodford county line. Taylor modeled the main building on a European castle, complete with turrets and a colonnaded springhouse, and landscaped the grounds with a sunken garden and reflecting pool — deliberately designed so visiting customers would associate the brand with taste and permanence rather than the working-mill look of a typical distillery.
The distillery operated under several owners through Prohibition and the twentieth century, closing for good in 1972 as bourbon sales declined nationally. For more than four decades afterward, the castle and grounds sat empty, overtaken by weeds and vines, its buildings stripped and vandalized; it became a well-known destination for local trespassers and, later, urban explorers documenting Kentucky's abandoned bourbon landmarks.
In May 2014, Kentucky natives Will Arvin and Wesley Murry bought the roughly 100-acre property and began a multi-year restoration, later joined by investors including former Buffalo Trace-linked distillers. The site reopened to the public as Castle & Key Distillery in 2016 and released its own aged bourbon starting in 2020. The original 1887 castle building and much of the historic grounds are preserved and remain the centerpiece of tours today.
Sources
Kentucky ghost-tour and haunted-distillery writers have long placed Old Taylor among the state's most talked-about abandoned sites, citing the harsh, dangerous conditions distillery labor involved in the era before modern safety regulation — work that supplied plenty of source material for stories of on-site deaths and lingering spirits even before any TV crew arrived. Roadtrippers and Whisky Advocate both cover Old Taylor within broader features on Kentucky's haunted-distillery lore, describing reports of unexplained sounds and cold spots inside the abandoned castle building during its derelict years.
The Travel Channel's Destination Fear filmed its "Old Bourbon Distillery" episode (season 2, episode 8) at the site, airing October 31, 2020. The crew's stated premise was that the distillery's history of grueling, sometimes fatal working conditions produced unusually intense hauntings, and the episode centers investigators overnight in the restored buildings. Castle & Key's own materials do not promote a haunted angle, and no encounter from the show has been independently corroborated beyond the broadcast.
Media Appearances
Walk the restored 1887 limestone distillery, the sunken garden, and the springhouse that Col. E.H. Taylor Jr. built as a showplace, then taste the current Castle & Key spirits made on-site.
Walk the botanical trail and gardens surrounding the distillery, including the ruins-turned-event-lawn sections left from the property's four-decade abandonment.
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