Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown belongs to an old school of Kentucky. I don't know of another town this size (around 30,000 people) that is also this tight-knit. It's a challenging mix to find. Usually you find bigger towns get to be less and less friendly, and fewer people know one another. I have never had that opinion of Elizabethtown. People really stay together here, and that leads to a warm, friendly town that is at the same time relaxed and exciting.

Because of the population size you get quite a few restaurants to choose from. I love the Texas Roadhouse for some excellent steaks and BBQ. It's a small town place that's excellent and very popular. You get peanuts with your drink at the bar, and if you want a good piece of meat cooked simply yet well, you can't go wrong here.

If you're looking for something more exotic, Namaste is a nice little Indian place. I'm not a fan of Indian food, but my wife enjoys it on occasion so we head over when she gets a craving. There's also a pretty good Mediterranean place, but I can't remember the name of it. It was actually excellent. My wife and daughters are always saying I have such limited taste, but I'm just a Southern guy who likes his BBQ. If you're like me, you have plenty in Elizabethtown, and if you like other foods you'll be covered there as well.

So I've covered there's plenty to eat. The same goes for bars. You'll find a decent amount of nightlife in Elizabethtown. Not as much as Lexington or Cincinnati, but it's not like you'll be entirely without a local bar or two to get a drink.

Elizabethtown schools don't rank terribly high, but there are a fair number of options there, both private and public, so no worries on that front. You'll also be able to find plenty of local high school kids to babysit when your kids are little and you want to enjoy one of the local restaurants. I've a friend in Elizabethtown who likes to let neighbor girls babysit, and because of how close everyone is, he doesn't worry about leaving his younger kids alone with a girl hardly old enough to be on her own. If there's a problem her parents and other trustworthy adults are right nearby. That's the kind of atmosphere you can expect in Elizabethtown.

Finally, Elizabethtown is a fairly historic place. The movie was filmed here, but there are also landmarks related to Abraham Lincoln (his father built a log cabin here), and there is the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola, which is a neat way to spend an afternoon. I took my family there when my kids were little, and while it took a bit of time before they warmed up to the history side of things, they ultimately had fun.

It's hard to beat Elizabethtown. I actually would love to live here someday, and I think it's combination of superb friendliness, safety and fun make it one of the top towns in the state.

Elizabethtown is an old town that is best known outside of Kentucky as the site of the film Elizabethtown. It's the one with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It's an interesting thing to have had the film take place here, as it's first a very good representation of the town, with the friendly locals and laid back lifestyle, as well as having brought in a lot of business and tourism since the film came out. Elizabethtown has had a bit of an economic boom since then, though it's not a massive change. Still it helped the local economy and brought some much needed money into the town.

Though money has come into Elizabethtown recently, it remains a cheap place to live, and it's still pretty darn safe and clean. You won't find many people complaining about the safety or relaxing vibe from the town.

Though it's not a giant city or anything, Elizabeth has a pretty decent population, and this makes it a bit more fun than most places in Kentucky. It retains all the charm, but has enough people that you don't get bored as easily as other places. There are more restaurants and bars than other towns, and this is really great for a young guy like me. I get frustrated by some towns that have nothing to do at night or on the weekend. El Tapatio has some good Mexican food, and Stone Hearth is a good old fashioned American restaurant. Plenty of good eats in Elizabethtown!

I haven't had a ton of chances to get drinks in Elizabethtown, but Winkerb's is a really cool grill and bar that has great drinks for a decent price, and there are usually some people there to talk to. You can do a heck of a lot worse in most parts of Kentucky.

People make pretty good money in Elizabethtown, and though I wouldn't call it a rich area or anything, you can find jobs and get decent pay here. Big bonus points for that!

For parents, Elizabethtown High School gets decent marks from people I've talked to, and I had to ask around a bit, but Bluegrass Middle School also gets decent marks. I don't have kids yet, but my friends with little ones think of Elizabethtown as a perfect place to raise their kids.

I don't have anything bad to say about Elizabethtown. It gets really high marks from me and is a place I'd love to live someday!