Meade County, Kentucky (Est. Pop. 29,000) covers 309 square miles of land with 243 miles of state highway and 295 miles of county roadways. We are primarily a rural community with a deep sense of pride in our past and looking ahead toward a bright future.

Meade County, the 76th county in Kentucky, was established by Legislative action December 17, 1823 from both Hardin and Breckinridge counties and was named in honor of Captain James M. Meade. It is bounded north and northeast for 56 miles by the Ohio River, east by Hardin, south by Hardin and Breckinridge County. Meade County streams include Otter, Doe Run, Wolf, and Spring Creeks. Doe Valley Lake is man made and boasts a 12.5 mile shoreline inside that private gated community.  Brandenburg, is the county seat, situated along the Ohio River, 40 miles below Louisville. It was named for Colonel Solomon Brandenburg and became incorporated in 1825.

Before settlement, herds of wild buffalo, deer, and elk, abounded in the area, which attracted pioneers who were seeking homes in the Kentucky wilderness. Among the early settlers were frontiersman Daniel Boone’s brother, Squire Boone, the first known Baptist minister in the county and his son Enoch. Several settlers arrived in Wolf Creek and established a permanent community there around 1785. Other permanent settlements were Hill Grove, Stith's Valley, Doe Run Creek and Otter Creek in 1792. There was still an abundance of game for food but the Indians were a problem making it necessary to build solid stockades. Much land was cleared and planted. Grinding mills were built on Doe Run and Otter Creeks using the fast flowing creeks as power for the mills. The first mill (Thomas Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father was the stonemason) on Doe Run Creek is now The Doe Run Inn which is a favorite dining spot for many featuring Kentucky and Southern Style foods.

Naturalist, John James Audubon loved the area around what is now Otter Creek Park and made many sketches of birds there.  During the Civil War, Meade County was the site of a raid by Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan's troops on July 7, 1863. The Confederates captured two steamboats, the John T. Combs and the Alice Dean, and Morgan stopped briefly in Brandenburg before invading Indiana and Ohio. Confederate guerrilla Marcellus Jerome Clarke ("Sue Mundy") was captured near the community of Guston on March 12, 1865, by Federal soldiers, he was tried in Louisville and hanged a few days later.

Nearby Ft. Knox is both a military reservation and host to the United States Gold Depository which many who have never visited will remember from the 1964 James Bond movie, “Goldfinger” which was partially filmed there as was the 1981 Bill Murray movie “Stripes”.

Our community was almost devastated on April 3, 1974 when what became the first F5 tornado on record smashed into Brandenburg and the surrounding community. For more on this, visit http://april31974.com/.

Our community has rebuilt since the 1974 tornado. Our emergency response community is up to date. Our sheriff’s department, city police departments, EMS with paramedics and basic EMT’s, fire departments, health services and other agencies serve you daily. Each year in July, the award winning Meade County Fair draws thousands of people from across the state and country to our community.
Whether you are just visiting or call Meade County “Home”, we welcome you to our web site and hope you come back again regularly.