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 options that meet the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies.
STEP 1: MIX AND MATCH OPTIONS
The Kentucky History Center - 100 W Broadway
History Center Experience
This is a self-guided experience with a KHS staff introduction to the main exhibit - A Kentucky Journey.
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. This is a self-guided experience.
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
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 - 60). This is a self-guided experience.
NEW! Access the Our Stories Our Service: Kentucky's Women Veterans Teacher Guide here. This guide provides additional resources for educators to incorporate into their Veterans Day programs and to meet the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies in the classroom.
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 experience.
1792 Museum Store
You will see many treasures from the commonwealth during your visit to the Kentucky Historical Society. 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 18 and under 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!
Limit one lab per year per grade level and limit one lab per visit.
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!
Innovative Inventors: Plan for the future by challenging yourself to design a new and improved gadget. Study the inventions of past Kentuckians and learn how they solved problems through innovative ideas. Create a patent sketch, build a model, and pitch your idea.
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).
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 experiences.
- 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.
- Traditional Tour Length: 45 minutes
- Group Size: Up to 60
Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA) Groups Add-On Option: A dress rehearsal presenting your bill proposals in the Senate Chamber. (90 minutes).
Other Frankfort Locations
These experiences must be arranged directly through the Salato Wildlife Education Center and/or the Kentucky State Capitol.
Natural Kentucky: Animals, People, and Their Environments
A two-part field trip with Salato Wildlife Education Center and Kentucky History Center and Museums.
Your group will visit the Salato Wildlife Education Center to learn about Kentucky’s natural history, native animals, and their habitats. Currently, self-guided school group tours cost $3 per person.
Pair with a trip to 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.
Kentucky State Capitol
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.
Visit the Kentucky State Capitol building to see where our legislators debate and create laws and pair with a trip to 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 registration form below to reserve an Old Capitol tour time.
Kentucky State Capitol Tour: Please note that anticipated construction may impact your visit. Please call (502) 564-3449 for scheduling information.
- Capacity: 60
- Length: 60 minutes (plus 30 minutes travel time to KHS)
- Call the Kentucky State Capitol for tour times at 502-564-3449
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, first-served basis. Note: March, April, and May are the busiest months of the year. Make your reservations as early as possible, or consider a fall or winter field trip for broader availability.
KHS reserves the right to adjust or cancel all programming to follow State regulations and the needs of our facilities and staff. If this should occur accommodations will be made to reschedule your group at the earliest convenience. Please contact us via khseducation@ky.gov if you have questions about this policy.
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 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and are offered every half 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.
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.
KHS no longer accepts Purchase Orders (POs) for payment.
Scholarships for Title I schools are available and homeschool groups with SNAP/WIC benefits. Click here for information.
Lunch
If your group plans to eat lunch during your visit, we offer two self-service options:
- You may reserve inside lunch space. Reservation times are available on a rotating 30-minute schedule. Capacity: 60.
- Your group may reserve an outdoor lunch space. 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? Email khseducation@ky.gov or call 502-564-1792.