Page Contents for Rabbit Hash, Kentucky

Statistics & Facts

Location

History & History-related items

City Attractions

Historical Events

Organizations, Churches, and Sports.

Miscellany

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Statistics & Facts

The Kentucky state capital is Frankfort.
The population of Rabbit Hash is approximately 5 (1990), 315 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 121 (2010).
The amount of land area in Rabbit Hash is 0.02 sq. kilometers.
The amount of land area in Rabbit Hash is 0.006 sq. miles.
The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers.
The distance from Rabbit Hash to Washington DC is 447 miles.
The distance to the Kentucky state capital is 48 miles. (as the crow flies)
Rabbit Hash is positioned 38.94 degrees north of the equator and 84.84 degrees west of the prime meridian.

Location

near the area where Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky meet on the bank of the Ohio River. It is about 31 miles to Cincinnati, Ohio. Other nearby communities include McVille, Belleview and Burlington all in Kentucky, and Rising Sun and Camp Shor in Indiana. Rabbit Hash is opposite Rising Sun, Indiana on the Ohio River. Here is a page for directions to Rabbit Hash.

Rabbit Hash is about 16 miles off I-75 at the Mt Zion Rd. (exit 178)
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History & History Related Items

Though local residents don’t think their town’s name is so unusual, most of the world would disagree. The origin of the name is sometimes disputed with similar but different stories. Generally, they say Rabbit Hash was a dish served here after the river flooded. Rabbits were driven to the hillsides near the river where they were killed for food. Because food was scarce, many rabbits were served here during the floods. Others say it was named at the general store by those sitting around the pot-bellied stove.

Once a busy steamboat landing, The first official name for the little community was actually Carleton and a post office by that name was opened here on 3 January 1879, but within a couple of months, the name had to be changed back to Rabbit Hash because it was so similar to nearby Carrollton that the mail was being sent to the wrong places.

Due to its location on the Ohio River, Rabbit Hash has had it share of serious flooding. When the river crested at 79.9 feet in 1937, the general store was completely underwater. In fact, there is still mud in the attic crawl space from this flood. The store was probably the only place in town that survived this terrible flood. It did so because it was completely anchored to the ground by iron rods sunk into the ground like the pilings of a ocean pier. The proprietors of past years had learned their lesson from previous flooding and had taken the necessary steps to preserve their store. Not much history was preserved in Rabbit Hash due to the major inundations that regularly occurred. Floods in 1884, 1913 and 1937 ruined mostly everything. Another large flood in 1997 wrecked havoc to the community.

Most of the town was purchased in 2002 by the Rabbit Hash Historical Society.

This page gives several different and creative versions on how Rabbit Hash was named.

Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, a town with officially just 5 people claims to be the only town to euthanize its mayor. The town elected a dog, Goofy, as mayor in 1998 and then was forced to put the dog to sleep in 2001 when it got too old. Afterwards, on 2 November 2004, a new election featuring a horse, a pig, and other animals was held. This time, Junior, a black labrador retriever, was chosen as mayor. The Mayor-elect appeared the next day on Good Morning Cincinnati!

Rabbit Hash is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places as Rabbit Hash Historic District
The district was added in 2003 as district #03001231. It includes 330 acres, 12 buildings, 6 structures and 3 objects.

Here is a history page for Rabbit Hash. Also try this history page.

Here are some nice historical pictures of Rabbit Hash.
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Attractions

Annual Old-Timer’s Day
Enjoy bluegrass and country music, games, a roast pig and just have a great time. This is the county’s largest single-day heritage event. Find the unusual here too with frog jumping and a rolling pin fling.

This official site for Rabbit Hash is provided by the Rabbit Hash Historical Society.

The Rabbit Hash General Store
10021 Lower River Road
Rabbit Hash, KY 41005
Phone: 859-586-7744
The store is open every day. It was built about 1831 and is still functioning today. A 1930 style Coca Cola sign is positioned at the front of the store.

Other featured attractions in Rabbit Hash include the Rabbit Hash Museum, a few historic homes and some shops that feature local crafts and Appalachian quilts.

Sundays Behind the Stove
Held each Sunday from 3 pm to 6 pm with music and visiting
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Rabbit Hash Historical Events

2004, November 2
Another unusual election was held in this unincorporated community of Rabbit Hash. This unconventional election was different in that each vote cast cost the voter $ 1 and you could vote as many times as you paid your dollar! The money cast with the vote was to help preserve this small community. When the polls closed at 6 pm, the Boone County officials called for the results. It took almost forty-five minutes to get them and find out who would be the new mayor in Rabbit Hash. Now, not only was this a paid election, but the candidates were also unique. First was Higgins, the donkey. He was thought to have a nice lead throughout, but wound up with only 712 votes. Lulu, the pig, conceded and dropped out early. Rudy, the Brittany Spaniel, was second, garnering 2,052 votes. But in the end it was Junior, a black Labrador, who had won with 5,049 votes. He appeared for the crowd after the results were announced and even became a guest the next day on Good Morning Cincinnati. $ 8,300 was raised from the election to be used by the historical society to help with the preservation of the community.

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2003
Within the last year, the Rabbit Hash Historical Society has raised over $ 250,000 that was used to buy the 3.75 acre community as a protection against developers. The entire town has also been named to the National Registry of Historic Places. A retired woman, Edna Flowers, maintained a small vacation home in Rabbit Hash and when she died last year, she named the local historical society the heir to the money to help keep the community intact. In December 2003, the society opted to buy the town to ensure it would remain the way it is.

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1997
The Flood of 1997
See the article about this serious flooding of Rabbit Hash.
Water rose up high enough to put about two feet of water inside the Rabbit Hash General Store. Luckily, owners had moved the food and machinery out of danger before the waters rose up so high. The store owners, the Scott family, said, “It hasn’t been devastating for us. We’re going to have a mess to clean up, but we haven’t lost anything.” The Rabbit Hash Museum had also moved important papers and artifacts out of harms way before rising water entered the museum building. Though many of the homes are higher up on hillsides and escaped major flooding, they were not very accessible due to the flooding. Local people say they except some flooding in the area every year during rainy times, but this year was the worst they had ever seen.

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1997
Brandon and Alexis Scott are two siblings who bought the town, including the Rabbit Hash General Store, along the river from their father, Louie, who had been owner since 1977. Brandon Scott said the purchase was important for him and his sister because they wanted to keep everything the same, from the friendly atmosphere to the laid-back conversations.

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1831
The Rabbit Hash General Store was built about 1831 and is the best known and best preserved country store in Kentucky. Rabbit Hash

Miscellany

Rabbit Hash has an area code of 859 as of November 2005. It is considered to be contained within the Cincinnati metro area. It is located within the Eastern time zone.

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In 1998, on the Jeopardy Television program where answers are provided and contestants have to give the question, this was one of the answers provided:
“In Rabbit Hash, KY, this was elected Mayor in 1998.” Of course, the answer is a dog. His name was Goofy

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Rabbit Hash, the movie website, Rabbit Hash, the Center of the Universe