Hit these 3 museums for free Monday as Lexington puts its 250-year history on display
The weather is cold and snowy. What a wonderful Monday to spend inside three of Lexington’s historic museums.
Today is “History Hop,” a celebration of Lexington’s 250-year history. It’s also President’s Day, and the Lexington History Museum, Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate and the Mary Todd Lincoln House will all be free and open to the public.
“Lexington is fortunate to have a strong and collaborative group of history organizations,” said Mandy Higgins, one of the 250Lex commissioners.
“We hope residents and visitors alike will not only enjoy the History Hop this month but will continue to explore the city’s many historic sites throughout the year.”
250Lex is a yearlong celebration of Lexington’s founding in 1775. Each month of 2025 will focus on a different topic with events and activities centered around the theme. February’s theme, Higgins said, is history, in part to coincide with Black History Month.
For the three museums participating in History Hop, Black history will be part of the experience.
“We wanted to showcase parts of the city’s history that aren’t often known, even though these are three pretty well-known museums,” Higgins said. “We’re doing pieces that aren’t typically part of what we do.”
Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate has chosen to focus on enslavement, she said, while the Mary Todd Lincoln House chose to focus on childhood during the mid-1800s when Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln were growing up.
The Lexington History Museum, in addition to its regular exhibits, will focus on civics and how to be a good museum visitor.
“There will be activities that are geared towards school-aged children and getting them to think about civic involvement and to think about how to visit museums,” Higgins said.
At Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate Museum visitors can dig into the estate’s complicated past as the home of U.S. Sen. Henry Clay, and four generations of his descendants. The museum looks at how the luxury and comfort the Clays were able to enjoy was only made possible by the labor of Black men, women and children.
Visitors can take part in a free tour, “When Reason Sleeps, Brutality Walks Free,” that features photography and sculpture works by renowned British Nigerian artist Yinka Shoibare. There also will be other Black history-related art that illustrates the untold stories of enslaved people from before the Civil War and of Black laborers after the Civil War.
Tours will be held at specified times throughout the day, and interested visitors can pre-register at https://henryclay.org.
At the Mary Todd Lincoln House, visitors will be able to meet Mrs. Lincoln, write with a quill pen, play games that would have been popular during the time she lived in the house, and other activities inspired by both Mary Todd and her husband, Abraham Lincoln.
The event is geared to children ages 5-10 and their families but is open to the public. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
The museum will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 17. More information is available at mtlhouse.org.
The three museums will have more information about other museums in Lexington, such as the Aviation Museum, the Lexington Children’s Museum and Waveland, Higgins said.
More than anything, she said, it will be an opportunity for people who live in Lexington, and who are just visiting, to find out things about the city they may not know.
“Each site has something that will be surprising,” she said. “Some of the things that children did in the 1830s and 1820s are just so dramatically different, but some of it is really similar.... But there are broad differences at Ashland. I think a lot of our understanding of not only Ashland as a place, but of the people who lived and worked there is such an under told story.
“And of course, we (at the Lexington History Museum) pride ourselves on getting at some of the lesser-known parts of Lexington’s history like our large display about IBM and the ways that really changed the city… and integrated the workforce.”
For those that don’t get a chance to take part in the History Hop, however, many of the exhibits will continue through March.
For more information on the History Hop and other 250Lex events: Visit 250LexKy.com, or follow 250Lex @250LexKy on Facebook and X, or @250Lexington on Instagram.
