KHS launches house museums tour on Kentucky history smartphone app

FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 13, 2013) – The Kentucky Historical Society explores Kentucky’s historic homes in a new tour on the “ExploreKYHistory” smartphone application.

The “Explore KY’s House Museums” tour highlights house museums that have been recognized on Kentucky’s historical markers. From Henry Clay’s Ashland in Lexington to Riverview at Hobson Grove in Bowling Green, the Kentucky history tour includes many primary source images and documents relating to the people and events that made these historic homes significant.

Based on the Kentucky Historical Marker Program, the “ExploreKYHistory” smartphone app combines historical markers, related items in the KHS collections and community-submitted images and stories into mapped points of interest. Related historical markers across the state are then grouped together into tours.

KHS began launching a series of “ExploreKYHistory” smartphone tours in summer 2012. Available tour themes now include Civil War, War of 1812, Abraham Lincoln, University of Kentucky, Danville and emancipation.

The Kentucky Historical Marker Program, administered by KHS in cooperation with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, shares Kentucky history through the people, places and events that have shaped local communities across the commonwealth. These markers highlight the importance of place in Kentucky’s collective history, in order to build strong communities for the future. The markers are on-the-spot history lessons that make connections between history, place and historical evidence housed in the state’s many historical organizations. Through the program, Kentucky history is made accessible to the public on markers along the state’s roadways.

The Explore Kentucky History smartphone application is available free of charge at iTunes, Google Play and explorekyhistory.ky.gov. Users who have already downloaded the app will have immediate access to the “Explore KY’s House Museums” tour and all previously released tours. More tours are set to be released soon.

For more information about submitting a community tour, contact Stuart Sanders at 502-564-1792, ext. 4420, or [email protected].