The Abbey of Gethsemani is located at 3642 Monks Road in Trappist, Kentucky. It was founded in 1848 by monks from the Abbey of Melleray in Western France. Forty-four Trappist monks escaped overcrowding and political unrest in their home country to a farm that was purchased from the Sisters of Loretto in Nelson County, Kentucky, at the behest of Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of Louisville.