My Old Kentucky Home State Park
| My Old Kentucky Home State Park | |
| Kentucky State Park | |
 Federal Hill Mansion
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| Country | United States |
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| State | Kentucky |
| County | Nelson |
| City | Bardstown |
| Elevation | 643 ft (196 m) |
| Coordinates | 37°48′23″N 85°27′25″W / 37.80639°N 85.45694°WCoordinates: 37°48′23″N 85°27′25″W / 37.80639°N 85.45694°W |
| Established | 1936 |
| Management | Kentucky Department of Parks |
 Location in Kentucky
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| Website: My Old Kentucky Home State Park | |
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My Old Kentucky Home
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| Location | Bardstown, Kentucky |
| Area | 235 acres (0.95 km2) |
| Built | 1795 |
| Architect | John Rowan |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000354 |
| Added to NRHP | March 11, 1971 |
My Old Kentucky Home State Park is a state park located in Bardstown, Kentucky. The park's centerpiece is Federal Hill, a farm owned by United States Senator John Rowan in 1795. During the Rowan family's occupation, the mansion became a meeting place for local politicians and hosted several visiting dignitaries. The farm is best known for its association with American composer Stephen Foster's anti-slavery ballad "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night". Foster was a cousin of the Rowan family, and was likely inspired to write the ballad both by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and through imagery seen on visits to Federal Hill. After popularity of the song increased throughout the United States, Federal Hill was purchased by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, dedicated as a historic site, and renamed "My Old Kentucky Home" on July 4, 1923. Foster's song by the same name was made the state song of Kentucky in 1928. The Federal Hill mansion was featured on a U.S. postage stamp in 1992, and it is one of the symbols featured on the reverse of the Kentucky state quarter issued in 2001.
Federal Hill, commonly known as "My Old Kentucky Home", is a historic mansion that was planned and commissioned by Judge John Rowan and his wife Ann Lytle. The mansion's original surrounding 1,200 acres were also known as "Federal Hill." The rear portion of the mansion was constructed in 1795, additional space from 1799 to 1802, and was completed in the form of a five-bay, three-story mansion from 1808 to 1818, using slave labor. With Rowan in residence, Federal Hill was a local power center in the realms of legal, political, and social events. Prominent visitors to the home included Marquis de Lafayette, Stephen Foster, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay. Judge Rowan occupied a Louisville residence during the majority of his later years and was rarely in residence at Federal Hill near the end of his life.
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