Looking for the best things to do in Taylorsville, Kentucky this summer? Spencer County is filled with family-friendly events, outdoor activities, live music, and small-town festivals all season long. Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or exploring close to home, there’s something happening nearly every week.
From the beloved Taylorsville Farmers Market to the Spencer County Fair and Fourth of July celebrations, summer here is all about community, connection, and unforgettable local experiences.
Weekly Favorites You Don’t Want to Miss
Taylorsville Farmers Market
One of the most popular summer attractions in Spencer County, the Farmers Market is your go-to for fresh produce, local goods, and handmade items.
One of the quiet joys of traveling through Spencer County is the way faith, history, and architecture are woven into the landscape. From hilltop brick sanctuaries to beloved little white country churches, our communities of worship tell stories of settlement, perseverance, and generations gathering week after week.
Faith, Memory, and Music in the Kentucky Landscape
Country and gospel music have long returned to the image of the small country church — white against green hills, where voices gathered and lives were marked by weddings, funerals, baptisms, and Sunday hymns. Even modern country music, especially Taylorsville native J.D. Shelburne’s reflects the same emotional landscape: faith, hometown pride, memory, and community.
Traditional gospel songs such as “Little White Church” have carried this imagery for generations, while modern country music has continued to draw on the same symbol. The phrase endures not because of color or size, but because it represents belonging, familiarity, and the idea of home.
Whether you are visiting for the weekend, returning home, or simply taking the scenic route, Spencer County’s churches offer a glimpse into our past and a warm welcome in the present.
Below is a guide to Sunday worship opportunities followed by an overview of our churches by denomination, including architectural character and whether a church fits the classic “little white church” tradition so many people cherish.
Sunday Worship in Spencer County (by Service Time)
8:00 a.m.
All Saints Catholic Church, Taylorsville.
Roman Catholic.
A Gothic Revival brick church built between 1830 and 1843, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
8:30 a.m.
Redemption Hill Baptist Church, Fisherville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A modern brick sanctuary designed for contemporary worship and family gatherings.
8:45 a.m.
River View Baptist Church, Cox’s Creek.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A mid‑century brick church with a traditional gable roof.
8:45 a.m.
First Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A historic congregation with a classic steepled sanctuary and later community additions.
9:00 a.m.
Kings Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A mid‑century brick worship hall serving a growing congregation.
9:45 a.m.
Bethlehem Baptist Church, Mt. Eden.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A stone sanctuary dating to the early 20th century, set beside a historic cemetery, with roots reaching back to the early 1800s.
9:45 a.m.
Little Mount Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A classic white frame chapel with a steeple, established in the late 1800s.
Little white church
9:45 a.m.
Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Campbranch), Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A rural frame church with a light exterior and traditional country appearance.
Little white church
9:45 a.m.
Ridgeview Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A modern church building with contemporary design elements.
10:00 a.m.
St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Fairfield.
Roman Catholic.
A brick, Gothic‑influenced church completed in 1883; one of the oldest Catholic parishes west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Not actually in Spencer County, but very close to the county line in Nelson County.
Elk Creek Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A historic brick church with a green steeple, featuring a sanctuary dating to the late 1800s and later additions.
Elk Creek Missionary Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Independent Missionary Baptist.
A modest wood‑frame country church.
Little white church
Little Union Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A traditional white rural frame church serving its community for generations.
Little white church
Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Mt. Eden area.
Southern Baptist Convention (local affiliation).
A traditional rural frame church reflecting mid‑20th‑century country design.
Little white church
Plum Creek Baptist Church, Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A white frame church with a tall steeple, set beside its cemetery.
Little white church
11:00 a.m.
Second Baptist Church (Historic Second), Taylorsville.
Southern Baptist Convention.
A small historic chapel with a steeply pitched roof, originally built as Minor Chapel and later adapted.
Little white church
Taylorsville United Methodist Church, Taylorsville.
United Methodist.
A Greek Revival‑inspired brick church founded in 1833 and renovated in the late 20th century.
Little white church: No.
Risen Lord Lutheran Church, Taylorsville.
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
A contemporary worship building constructed in the 21st century.
Churches of Spencer County by Denomination
Southern Baptist Convention churches range from large brick sanctuaries like First Baptist, Kings Baptist, Elk Creek Baptist, and Redemption Hill, to some of the county’s most beloved little white churches, including Little Mount Baptist, Little Union Baptist, Mt. Moriah Baptist, Plum Creek Baptist, Second Baptist (Historic Second), Wakefield Baptist, and likely Mt. Zion Baptist (Campbranch).
Independent Missionary Baptist representation includes Elk Creek Missionary Baptist Church, a modest wood‑frame rural chapel that fits squarely within the little white church tradition.
United Methodist presence is represented by Taylorsville United Methodist Church, a historic brick church dating to the early 19th century.
Lutheran worship in Spencer County is found at Risen Lord Lutheran Church, a modern congregation with contemporary facilities.
Roman Catholic churches include All Saints Catholic Church in Taylorsville, a Gothic Revival brick landmark from the early 1800s, and St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Fairfield, a brick Gothic‑influenced church built in 1883 with deep roots in early Kentucky Catholic history.
A Place for Everyone
From nationally significant historic churches to quiet white chapels tucked along country roads, Spencer County’s churches are more than buildings. They are living landmarks — places where music lingered after the final hymn, where roads led home, and where visitors are still welcomed today.
Civil War Spencer County: Sites, Stories, Cemeteries & the Buffalo Soldier From Little Mount
Spencer County’s Civil War era lives on in roadside markers, church steeples, quiet cemeteries, and in the brief but remarkable life of a Buffalo Soldier whose headstone still stands in Little Mount. This guide takes visitors from downtown Taylorsville to the rural ridges where history survives in stone, soil, and story.
1) Downtown Taylorsville: Markers That Tell the War
The Courthouse Burned (January 1865)
A historical marker on the courthouse lawn explains how guerrillas set fire to the Spencer County Courthouse during one of the final, chaotic months of the Civil War. Federal scouts pursued the raiders toward Mt. Eden the next morning, but the courthouse was lost—though its records survived.
All Saints Catholic Church (Established 1830)
Just a short walk from the courthouse stands All Saints Catholic Church, Spencer County’s only Catholic parish. Founded in the 1830s, the parish witnessed the courthouse burning and remains one of the county’s oldest continuously active religious institutions.
Local tradition: Parishioners have long repeated this story. The night of the Courthouse burning by Confederate raiders, the city fathers were meeting within All Saints Catholic Church. Somehow they recieved word that the courthouse was to be attacked and so they all ran to collect the record books from the hall. As they ran back to the church with their arms full of papers and books the raiders arrived and because to chase them with bulltefire! A stray bullet struck the church steeple! While the story is not formally documented, it remains one of the community’s most enduring tales and can be verified by the staff at the church. It was just a legend until the original steeple was damaged in a storm. The steeple was taken down and rebuilt on the front of the church. As this was done, a civil war bullet was indeed found and was interred in the structure as it was rebuilt.
Guerrilla Quantrill in Wakefield
Five miles south of Taylorsville, a wayside on KY‑55 marks the spot where William Clarke Quantrill—the infamous guerrilla leader—was ambushed in May 1865. He attempted to flee, was shot and paralyzed, and taken into custody.
How Quantrill reached Louisville: After being wounded in the Wakefield ambush, Quantrill was carried under military guard to the U.S. Military Prison Hospital in Louisville, where he died on June 6, 1865. No surviving documentation specifies how he was transported (wagon, ambulance, or otherwise), only that he was captured in Spencer County and died in Louisville several weeks later.
2) Cemeteries: Where Civil War‑Era Kentuckians Rest
Spencer County’s cemeteries preserve the lives of frontier settlers, enslaved and free African Americans, and families divided by the war. Many of these resting places sit on rural hillsides or behind churches that still serve their communities today.
Little Mount Colored Cemetery (Little Mount) — Historic African American cemetery and burial site of Buffalo Soldier Lewis T. Baker.
Little Mount Cemetery — Adjacent to the Colored Cemetery, with numerous 19th‑century burials.
Pleasant Union Cemetery (Little Mount) — A small rural cemetery historically associated with the Little Mount community.
Elk Creek Baptist Church Cemetery — One of the county’s larger traditional cemeteries.
Riverview Baptist Church Cemetery — Located along Louisville Road in the Cox’s Creek area near the county line.
Briar Ridge Christian Church Cemetery — A historic cemetery on the eastern side of the county near Taylorsville Lake.
Valley Cemetery (Taylorsville) — The city’s principal cemetery, located one mile west of town.
Patrick McGee Pioneer Cemetery (Waterford) — A small pioneer cemetery containing some of the county’s earliest settlers.
Carlin Family Cemetery (Normandy) — A private family burial ground on rural property east of the Normandy community.
Yoder Farm Cemetery — A small private or semi‑private family cemetery without published coordinates.
The Old Taylorsville (Pioneer) Cemetery Historic narrative accounts describe early burials here from the 1830s onward. African American burials were historically located on the southern slope while white burials clustered toward the west. Over the decades the cemetery saw damage, vandalism, and neglect, though local efforts have periodically restored portions of the grounds.
3) Spotlight: Buffalo Soldier Lewis T. Baker (1887–1910)
Lewis T. Baker was born in Spencer County in January 1887 to A.B. (“Oscar”) Baker and Mary Avery Baker. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1909 and was assigned to Troop M of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of the original “Buffalo Soldier” regiments.
The 10th Cavalry served across the American West, in Cuba during the Spanish‑American War, and in the Philippines. In 1909 the regiment was posted to Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont, where Baker served until his death “in the line of duty” on August 7, 1910, at age 23.
His body was returned home and buried in Little Mount Colored Cemetery, where his headstone reads:
“L.E.W.I.S. T. B.A.K.E.R. CO. M. 10 U.S. CAV.”
His story links Spencer County directly to the national history of African American military service.
4) Notable 19th‑Century Figures of Spencer County
Richard Taylor – Founder of Taylorsville
In 1799, Richard Taylor donated 60 acres at the fork of Brashear’s Creek and the Salt River to establish Taylorsville. Early trustees included Robert Jeffries, George Cravinston, Philip W. Taylor, and Benjamin Bourne.
Captain Spier Spencer – County Namesake
Spier Spencer, leader of the Kentucky “Yellow Jackets,” was killed in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. Spencer County, founded in 1824, honors his name.
George Gilmore Gilbert (1849–1909)
Born in Taylorsville, Gilbert became a lawyer, served as Spencer County’s prosecuting attorney, then in the Kentucky State Senate, and represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives for four consecutive terms (1899–1907).
5) Self‑Guided Heritage Tour (Half‑Day)
Courthouse Lawn (Downtown Taylorsville): Begin with the “Courthouse Burned” marker.
All Saints Catholic Church: Walk uphill to the church built in the 1830s and explore parish history.
Wakefield (KY‑55): Visit the Quantrill ambush marker.
Little Mount: Explore the Little Mount Colored Cemetery (Lewis T. Baker’s grave), Little Mount Cemetery, and surrounding ridge‑top community.
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