The Louisville Cemetery Where Several Bourbon Legends Are Buried

Cemeteries can be cathartic, sad, terrifying, or any number of things in-between depending on the circumstances. But one thing for sure is that they're shrouded in history. That's definitely the case in a certain Louisville, Kentucky graveyard — the resting place of some of the city's most famous folks. It's called Cave Hill Cemetery, and several legends lying within the peaceful grounds come from the annals of Kentucky's bourbon lore.  

Cave Hill flourishes as a rural garden cemetery and arboretum spread across natural hills and basins, established by Kentucky's General Assembly in 1848. It spans 296 acres today, but it's more than a bucolic Victorian landscape — it also cradles several now-silent icons of the Kentucky bourbon trail. Perhaps the most famous of them all is Julian Proctor "Pappy" VanWinkle Sr., the real Pappy Van Winkle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, legendary for being ultra-aged and highly sought-after. 

Proctor died in 1965, at the age of 90. Before him another key bourbon pioneer buried at Cave Hill was William Larue Weller in 1899, whose name still lives on as the founder of the W.L. Weller Distillery and its tradition of wheat bourbons. It's now part of the Buffalo Trace family, and a specific William Larue Weller bottle features in the coveted Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. But the bourbon legends laid to rest at Cave Hill Cemetery don't end there. 

The trail of whiskey's founders continues winding through Cave Hill Cemetery with the grave of George Garvin Brown, who was buried there in 1917. He is credited with creating the Old Forester brand, later tied to Brown-Forman. Brown's legacy lies in part with his innovative idea of selling whiskey in sealed glass bottles. His Old Forrester whiskey became the official first bottled bourbon in 1870, and new releases continue to pay homage to its roots on Whiskey Row. 

Paul Jones Jr. of Four Roses bourbon fame died suddenly of Bright's disease at age 55 and was also buried at Cave Hill in 1895 – just seven years after he trademarked the "Four Roses" name. Others with ties to bourbon's Kentucky roots include Thomas Jeremiah Beam, son of Jim Beam, who founded the Jim Beam Distillery after the Prohibition. His grave at Cave Hill rests near another world-renowned name: Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. 

These burials at Cave Hill are one primary reason the cemetery shows up on bourbon-focused heritage tours. Private tour operators regularly offer excursions to explore bourbon history and its founding fathers, often operating seasonally or on request. If you're ever in Louisville, you can also download the Cave Hill Cemetery app to find the graves of these legendary figures, search records, find walking or golf-cart tours, and view interactive app-based tours.