Father David Rice and Kentucky’s first Presbyterian churches
Green County · 1783
David Rice was about fifty years old when he crossed the mountains into Kentucky in 1783.
Photo: Joel Bradshaw · Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · 2012
Pioneers, Native nations, long hunters, soldiers and distillers. Explore the stories that made Kentucky, on a living map you can travel through time.
Map
Explore Kentucky’s history map
A free, interactive map of the Kentucky Historical Society’s historical markers. Turn on layers to see what else happened nearby.
- Add museums, covered bridges, mills, distilleries (mostly Bourbon), caves, and more.
- See approximate Native American territories and archaeological cultures beneath today’s roads.
- Tap any pin to read its marker or story. It works on your phone.
- Follow the Warriors' Path, Cumberland Gap and more on route maps, stop by stop.
Story archive
Browse all 244 stories
Every curated story, with its photo. Start with the daily stories, newest first, or browse by era or by one stop from the map.
Resource hub
Related Kentucky history sites
Official programs, archaeology orgs, and documented place pages. Topic articles when they exist.
Explore Kentucky’s historical markers on the map, then open Timeline for stories by era and year. Tap a pin for details; use to zoom back out.
Filter by era or timeframe, then open a story to read it. The map highlights the story’s location when it has one.
About
Our seals
Kentucky History Drive helps you explore Kentucky’s historical highway markers on a map, and browse Kentucky history stories on a timeline by era and year. An iPhone app is coming soon.
Credits
- Marker text and locations: Kentucky Historical Society / history.ky.gov
- Map rendering: MapLibre GL JS
- Basemap tiles: CARTO Voyager (OpenStreetMap data)
- Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors
- State outline: Natural Earth
- Stories: Kentucky history for the KY History Drive project
- Layer places (history, museums, parks, and more): Kentucky History Drive project data
iOS app data: /data/app/
iPhone app
Our iPhone app is coming soon. We’ll link it here when it’s live.
Kentucky history resources
Official programs, archaeology organizations, and documented place pages. Topic articles when they exist.