Self-Guided Historical Walking & Driving Tours
Take a tour of four National Historic Districts listening to our theatrical audio tours that bring the characters of the past to life. You’ll be in awe of the stunning architecture of our many antebellum and Victorian homes that paint the cheery streets of Lexington. Or follow Lexington's sites along the Santa Fe Trail and immerse yourself in the past.
Historic Districts Tours
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Battlefield/Wentworth Historic District Tour
Note: Wentworth Section of Tour starts at 25:24 from parking lot at SW corner of 18th St. & Washington Ave.
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Downtown Historic District Tour
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Highland Avenue Historic District Tour
Download Old Neighborhoods Historic District/Machpelah Cemetery Tour
Note: Machpelah Cemetery Section of Tour starts at 37:30 just inside the North Gate of the Cemetery on S. 20th St., across from Jefferson Ave.
Santa Fe Walking Tour
American settlers had been living in the Lexington area for only a few years when William Becknell left Franklin, in central Missouri, for Santa Fe in September 1821. The Santa Fe Trail became America's first great international commercial highway, and for nearly sixty years thereafter was one of the nation's great routes of adventure and western expansion.
With the success of the new Santa Fe Trail, most early traders went through Lexington. Trade goods such as tinware, tobacco, whiskey and beeswax originated in Lexington. Direct expeditions from the area started as early as 1824 when Strother Renick was hired by General McRea to "take a small stock of goods on pack mules over the trackless prairie to Mexico."
