Elizabethtown is a small town in the Kentucky Derby Region. Abraham Lincoln's parents Thomas and Nancy had their daughter Sarah here in 1807 and then Abraham nearby at Sinking Spring Farm in 1809.

Understand

In 1862, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan assailed the town in a hail of cannon balls, one of which lodged in the Joey Lee Building on the downtown square and can be seen to this day.

George Armstrong Custer also spent time here working to quell anti-freedmen violence and illegal distilleries.

Get in

Elizabethtown, often called "E-town" by locals, is a hub city located in Hardin County, Kentucky. It is served by Interstate 65, linking Louisville and points north with Nashville and points south. The Blue Grass Parkway links Elizabethtown with points east, including Lexington. Heading west is the Western Kentucky Parkway, which brings traffic from the Land Between the Lakes and Paducah.

See

• Brown-Pusey House, 128 N Main, ☏ +1 270-765-2515. A historic house where George Armstrong Custer stayed with his military detachment to suppress KKK activity and bootleggers. Tu-Sa 10AM-4PM. 

Do

• Conder's Paintball, 193 Ford Hwy, ☏ +1 270 765-4517. On 80 acres near the I65. A variety of fields: Ultimate air speedball, plastic ball wall speedball, urban city with over 50 buildings & towers in all four corners. 2 wood ball courses complete with forts, towers and an indoor arena course with ultimate air bunkers. Compressed air fills of 3000, 4500 psi & CO₂ are offered. M-Sa 10AM-6PM, Su 11AM-6PM. (updated Dec 2018)
• 1 Freeman Lake Park, 212 Freeman Lake Park Rd, ☏ +1 270-769-3916. City park with fishing lake, ducks, disc golf, tennis and Lincoln heritage house, one room schoolhouse, and Sarah Bush Johnston (Abraham Lincoln's stepmother) log cabin . Daily 7AM-sunset. (updated Jan 2022)
• 2 Paintball in Kentucky, 813 Hawkins Dr, ☏ +1 270-765-4517. Paintball games. (updated Nov 2022)

Buy

There is a mini mall called "Towne Mall".

Eat

Penn Station is amazing.

• 1 The Whistle Stop, 216 E Main St. Glendale. Tu–F 11AM–8PM, Sa 11AM–9PM, Su 11AM–4PM. Authentic small-town Southern food. (updated Sep 2023)

Drink

City voters approved full retail alcohol sales on October 4, 2011, making "E-town" fully "wet". Previously, alcohol sales had been allowed only by the drink in certain restaurants (determined by seating capacity). Its neighbor of Radcliff and near-neighbor of Vine Grove also voted wet on the same day. The rest of Hardin County is dry, with two exceptions:

• One private golf course (Pine Valley Golf Course) received approval from local voters to sell alcohol by the drink.
• The city of West Point, in the far north of the county, has voted to allow sales by the drink in restaurants that seat at least 50.

Sleep

• Ramada, 205 Commerce Drive, ☏ +1 270 769-9683. I-65 at Exit 94. 
• Quality Inn & Suites, 2009 N Mulberry St, ☏ +1 270-506-0031. 

Connect

By phone

Most telephone numbers in Elizabethtown consist of +1 270 plus a seven-digit number, but the entire 270 area is now served by an overlay complex of two area codes, with +1 364 as the second. A local or in-state telephone call now requires all 10 digits of the local number be dialed (omitting just the leading +1 from a local landline call).

Signage on many established businesses may still display the original seven-digit numbers; dial 270 before these if no area code is indicated.

Note that nearby Fort Knox is in area code 502, not 270/364. However, Radcliff, which borders directly on both Elizabethtown and Fort Knox, is in 270/364.

Go next

• Fort Knox, ☏ +1 502 624-1000. Do not attempt to enter Fort Knox without authorization. (updated Aug 2018)

Routes through Elizabethtown

Louisville ← Shepherdsville ←	N  S	→ Cave City → Bowling Green
Paducah via S and W ← Hartford ←	W  E	→ END
END ←	W  E	→ Bardstown → Lexington via E
Louisville ← Fort Knox ←	N  S	→ Cave City → Bowling Green
Paducah ← Greenville ←	W  E	→ Bardstown → Columbus