Historical Marker

Catholic Pioneers

Basil Hayden, Sr., led 25 Maryland Catholic families to settle near here, on Pottinger's Creek, 1785. Father Whelan said first Mass in Kentucky here in 1787. First Catholic church west of Alleghenies built here in 1792. First monks, 1805, Trappist Fathers (Cistercians). Present church erected in 1823, under direction of famous Belgian missionary, Charles Nerinckx.