Paris is a beautiful town with a lot of charm in its historic downtown area. it reminds me of my hometown of Aiken, South Carolina it that there is a horse industry influence, friendly folks and just that feel you get in a old but vibrant community.
The drive between Paris and Lexington on US 68 is gorgeous. Not sure I have ever seen such an expanse of horse farms; and the stone fences!
Lexington itself is a bit hit or miss. I visited the Country Club Prep store and made a small deposit at the Bank of Longshanks. 🤪. Drove by Rupp Arena - I’ll take JPJ any day. 😁
Here are some factoids about Paris, the most entertaining of which is that it is located in Bourbon County. The second most interesting fact is that there is only one distillery in Bourbon County. On with the rest of the facts.
Paris lies 18 miles northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. It is the seat of its county. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 8,553. It’s motto is "Thoroughbred Capital of the World"
Joseph Houston settled a station in the area in 1776, but was forced to relocate due to prior land grants. In 1786, Lawrence Protzman purchased the area of present-day Paris from its owners, platted 250 acres for a town, and offered land for public buildings in exchange for the Virginia legislature making the settlement the seat of the newly formed Bourbon County. In 1789, the town was formally established as Hopewell after Hopewell, New Jersey, Protzman’s hometown. The next year it was renamed Paris after the French capital to match its county and honor the French assistance during the American Revolution.
Among the early settlers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were French refugees who had fled the excesses of their own revolution.
The post office was briefly known as Bourbontown or Bourbonton in the early 19th century. The town was incorporated as Paris in 1839 and again in 1890.
Paris is the "sister city" of Lamotte-Beuvron in France.
