Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
(Bardstown, Kentucky)
This Roman Catholic monastery is located near
Bardstown, Kentucky, about 50 miles south of Louisville.
It was established in 1848 by a group of 44 Trappist
monks from western France who settled into the rolling
farmland of central Kentucky and supported themselves,
as they still do, through farming. The Trappists, also
known as the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict
Observance, are best known for taking a vow of silence.
By far the most famous resident was Thomas Merton,
a Trappist monk, writer and religious philosopher.
He lived at the Bardstown abbey for 27 years, and
during that time he was a prolific writer who published
more than 60 books and hundreds of poems, articles
and essays. He was very involved in th