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Lexington Attractions & ActivitiesHistoric Sites
Ready to look into the past and learn about the heritage of this fascinating city? We list historic homes, plantations, battlegrounds, and churches that are rich in history and provide for an educational travel diversion.
Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 120 Sycamore Rd, Lexington, KY 40502
Perhaps Kentucky's most famous statesman, Henry Clay was not only the "Great Compromiser," who warded off the Civil War for a time, but a Speaker of the House and Secretary of State (among other offices). Ashland, the home now considered a National Historic Landmark, was built by his son on the foundation of the original and features period items...
Benjamin Henry Latrobe's Pope Villa
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 326 Grosvenor Ave, Lexington, KY 40507
Architecture and design aficionados are certain to be mesmerized by the ongoing restoration of this gracious home, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, also a designer of the US Capitol. Originally a private home, the structure was, over time, carved into ten student apartments and transformed from a simple neoclassical home into a busy Italianate...
Boone Station State Historic Site
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 240 Gentry Rd, Lexington, KY 40509
In the late 18th century, Daniel Boone and his family settled this site, where they lived for three years. Legal issues regarding the validity of the claim forced the clan to move, but five relatives were buried here nevertheless, several of them victims of battle and Indian tensions. Today, the site features an open area with a monument to the...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 201 N Mill St, Gratz Park, Lexington, KY 40508
Built by Kentucky's first millionaire, this Federal-style brick home dates to 1814 and has sheltered members of one of the state's most prominent families, including a Confederate general and Nobel Prize winner. The structure itself boasts refined details, including a gracious entryway and a three-story, spiral staircase. Interiors have been...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 4201 Versailles Rd, Lexington, KY 40592
As famous for its beauty as its racing prominence, Keeneland was constructed in 1936 and is now a National Historic Landmark. Distinguished by its limestone buildings and mature trees, Keeneland helped to reinvigorate horse racing when it was faltering – clearly a successful effort. These days, visitors from around the world gather to watch horses...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 833 W Main St, Lexington, KY 40508
Although nominally a cemetery, this beautiful plot of land is heavy with blooming shrubs, stately trees, and lush plantings. Instituted in the mid-19th century, the area also contains the gravesites of some of Lexington's – and Kentucky's – more famous residents. A beautiful, Romanesque gatehouse, several lakes, and an impressive monument to Henry...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 209 Castlewood Dr, Castlewood Park, Lexington, KY 40505
Now home to the Lexington Art League and its exhibitions, this impressive Gothic Revival home was built in the early 1850s by local builder John McMurtry and was based on designs by Alexander Jackson Davis, a New York architect. Towers, crenellations, and arched windows distinguish Loudoun House, which is surrounded by old, towering trees. In...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 578 W Main St, Lexington, KY 40507
This elegantly proportioned brick home was built in the late Georgian style at the turn of the 19th century. Initially an inn, it was sold in 1831 to Robert Todd, Mary's father and a prominent Lexington businessman, and he, with his second wife and children, moved to the 14-room structure in 1832. Mary lived there until 1839, when she joined her...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 1200 Red Mile Rd, Lexington, KY 40504
Dating to 1875, this harness-racing track is Lexington's oldest race course. Harness racing, also known as standardbred racing, features horses pulling drivers around the course in small, two-wheeled carts. It's somewhat reminiscent of chariot racing, except that the driver sits rather than stands. Red Mile is also used for yearling sales and...
Category: Historic Sites - Lexington Attractions & Activities
Address: 225 Waveland Museum Ln, Lexington, KY 40514
Constructed by descendants of Daniel Boone, this refined, brick-built Greek Revival home features an abundance of classical details, including friezes, mouldings, and Ionic columns. Dating from the mid 19th century, the home (whose name derives from fields of grain moving in the breeze) features period furnishings, artwork, and family possessions....
