Create a Field Trip Experience Your Students Won't Forget.
Below is all the information you need to schedule and plan a visit with your students to the Kentucky History Center and Museums (including the Old State Capitol, Kentucky Military History Museum, and Kentucky History Center). With our extensive campus, including three different museums, we can safely host a group size of 60 at each location. We require one chaperone per group of ten.
See how a field trip meets the new Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies here.
Unable to travel? Click here for K-8 virtual field trip and 8-12 Host a Historian options that meet the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies.
STEP 1: MIX AND MATCH OPTIONS
The Kentucky History Center - 100 W Broadway
A Kentucky Journey
Our main museum exhibition introduces students to 12,000 years of Kentucky history with walk-through environments and interactive displays. Students will examine primary sources from prehistory through the 20th century and gain an understanding of how Kentucky has expanded and evolved.
Our Stories Our Service: Kentucky's Women Veterans
Our Stories, Our Service honors Kentucky’s women veterans and explores how their courage and leadership has made significant military contributions in this century and the last. These individual experiences are part of the larger story of how women’s role in the United States Armed Forces has evolved from the home front to the front lines— and how resilience and determination has overcome cultural and institutional barriers to their service (max capacity - 50).
Kentucky Hall of Governors
The Kentucky Hall of Governors contains portraits of every Kentucky governor except the present one (there’s a reason for that, which you’ll see in the exhibit). Interactive touch screens prompt thought, and students will learn about each governor’s administration and the evolution of the governor’s office.
This is a self-guided tour. An updated museum scavenger hunt activity is included in the materials you will receive when we confirm your reservation. Access additional educator packets that support field trips.
- Length: 60 minutes
- Group Size: Up to 60
1792 Museum Store
You will see many treasures from the commonwealth during your visit to the Kentucky Historical Society. Before you leave, commemorate your visit with a treasure of your own, purchased from the Stewart Home & School 1792 Museum Store. Gift store purchases support educational programs and exhibitions at the Kentucky Historical Society.
- Please reserve a time to shop.
- All students must be accompanied by an adult.
- Due to limited capacity, groups should utilize the full hour assigned for the History Center galleries to stagger small groups in the store.
Learning Labs
Hands-on activities to enhance your students' experience. See how Learning Labs meet the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies!
Frontier Fortress: Explore Kentucky’s earliest communities, frontier forts, and indigenous earthworks. Learn why these enclosures were needed, how they operated, and who built them. Analyze historical maps and illustrations, and then design your own community blueprint!
Quills and Bills: Examine the democratic process and why laws are made. Problem solve by writing your own bill proposal to improve your community or a letter to the Mayor about being a good citizen. Use a historic writing tool (a quill feather and liquid ink) to draft your idea to improve our future.
Vote for Me!: Learn what it means to be an active citizen and discuss attributes that represent a good candidate for office. Draft your own platform to run for Class President, Mayor, or the next Kentucky Governor! Design a campaign poster and button to promote your cause. Last, practice giving your election speech to persuade your peers to vote for you!
Artifact Analysis: Understand the role of the Kentucky Historical Society by thinking like a historian as you study images and artifacts from our special collections. Handle some of the museum’s ambiguous objects and play a drawing game to see if your peers can guess what they are. After investigating, you will see how the object’s purpose has changed over time.
Be a Curator!: Create your own museum exhibit using the National History Day in Kentucky framework. Explore an event in Kentucky’s history, use primary sources to develop a historical argument, and design an exhibit board to wow the NHD judges! (For grades 6-12).
Cost: Additional $2 per student per lab. Time: 60 minutes. Minimum group size: 10 students. Max group size: Up to 30 students.
The Kentucky Military History Museum - 125 E Main St (one block walking distance)
The main museum exhibit Kentucky Military Treasures tells the stories of Kentuckians and their participation in nearly 200 years of conflicts. The building is itself a part of military history. Use this updated scavenger hunt with your students. The former State Arsenal dates to 1850 and housed a cartridge factory that employed many women during the Civil War. Access additional educator packets that support field trips.
Students can also visit a second exhibit George M. Chinn: Sights Set on Innovation, at no additional charge.
These are self-guided tours. Lesson plans to prepare for your visit are among the materials we will send when we confirm your visit.
- Length: 45 minutes
- Group Size: Up to 60
The Old State Capitol - 300 W Broadway (one block walking distance)
Students explore Kentucky’s legislative branch and discover who makes the rules in Kentucky and the Old State Capitol’s use in the 19th century. The Old State Capitol was Kentucky’s statehouse from 1830 to 1910.
This is a guided tour.
- Length: 45 minutes
- Group Size: Up to 60
Other Frankfort Locations
Natural Kentucky: Animals, People, and Their Environments
A two-part field trip starting at Salato Wildlife Education Center and ending at the Kentucky History Center and Museums.
First, your group will go to the Salato Wildlife Education Center to learn about Kentucky’s natural history, native animals, and their habitats. Under current operations, self-guided school group tours cost $3 per person and may be booked at 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30 most days when Salato is open. Salato is currently under construction. Please call 502-564-7863 for indoor exhibit availability.
Then, you will visit the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History to see how people used Kentucky’s natural resources for their homes and livelihood. Learn how the natural environment affected settlement and the state’s economy.
- Reservations and payments to Salato Wildlife Education Center are made separately. Learn more and book your field trip here.
- Length: 3.25 hours suggested. Group size: Up to 60 people. Available March through November.
- Add 30 minutes for travel.
Capitol at Work
A two-part field trip including the Kentucky State Capitol building and the Kentucky History Center and Museums. Please allow 30 minute travel time between locations.
First, you will travel to the Kentucky State Capitol building to see where our legislators debate and create laws.
Then, you will visit the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History to visit A Kentucky Journey exhibit and the Old State Capitol building to see where laws were once made in the 19th century. Complete the below registration form to reserve an Old Capitol tour time.
- Call the Kentucky State Capitol for tour times at 502-564-3449
- Length: 4 hours minimum. Group size: Up to 50 on each tour rotation, 150 in total.
STEP 2: PLAN YOUR DAY
Scheduling
Field trips for groups of 10 or more are available year-round. We require that trips be scheduled at least three weeks in advance and accept reservations on a first-come basis. Note: March, April, and May are the busiest months of the year. Make your reservations as early as possible.
Field Trip Times
The earliest you may arrive for a field trip is 9 a.m. at the Kentucky History Center. Tour times are available from 9 am to 5 pm, Tuesday-Saturday, and offered every half an hour.
Fees, Payment & Scholarships
$5 per person. This includes all sites at the Kentucky History Center and Museums: The Old State Capitol, all exhibits at the Kentucky History Center, and the Kentucky Military History Museum. $2 upcharge per student for Learning Labs.
Payment is due upon check-in on the day of your field trip. We accept cash, check (made out to the Kentucky Historical Society), or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express). Our Visitor Services Coordinator will send an invoice along with the confirmation letter.
Scholarships for Title I schools are available. Click here for information.
Lunch
If your group plans to eat lunch during your visit, we offer self-service two options:
- You may reserve our lunch space inside the History Center. Reservation times are available on a rotating 30-minute schedule. Capacity: 60.
- Your group may eat an outdoor lunch in the Cralle-Day Garden behind the History Center or on the Old State Capitol lawn. Capacity: 150.
After checking in at the welcome desk, staff will direct you to where to store your lunches. Food is unavailable for purchase at the Kentucky History Center and Museums.
*Please help keep KHS clean for our other guests and groups by keeping lunch in designated areas and cleaning up after your group.
Bus Drop Off & Parking
Bus drop-off is available in the designated pull-off on Ann Street only. Bus parking is available off-site at River View Park at 404 Wilkinson Blvd, Frankfort, KY. Please see the attached map for bus routes and parking.
Restrooms
As you plan, restrooms at the Old State Capitol and the Kentucky Military History Museum do not accommodate large groups of people. Plan to use the restrooms at the Kentucky History Center on the first floor of the building, just inside the Ann Street door, the same entrance your group will use when you arrive.
STEP 3: BOOK YOUR FIELD TRIP
Click on the button below to book. Have questions? Call 502-564-1792.