Lawrenceburg, Whiskey City

Lawrenceburg sits on the Ohio River in Indiana's far southeastern corner, just west of Cincinnati. It was platted in eighteen oh two by Samuel Vance, who named the town for his wife, Lawrence. It became the seat of Dearborn County.

Sitting right on the river, Lawrenceburg grew into a bustling stop for riverboats hauling goods up and down the Ohio. But what really made its name was whiskey. Distilling took hold here, and the town tapped clean, limestone filtered water from the aquifer below to make spirits prized across the country.

By the eighteen hundreds, distilleries lined the valley, and Lawrenceburg earned the nickname Whiskey City, U.S.A.

The rivers and rails that carried that whiskey out helped turn a small frontier plat into one of Indiana's oldest river towns.