Kentucky History Drive

History is all around us.

Pioneers, Native nations, long hunters, soldiers and distillers. Explore the stories that made Kentucky, on a living map you can travel through time.

Timeline story

Jessamine County · Early commonwealth · 1792 – 1799

Nicholasville Takes Shape

After Jessamine County split from Fayette in December 1798, Methodist minister Rev. John Metcalf surveyed a town site around four never-failing springs and the Lexington–Danville crossroads.

Laid out in 1799 on Caldwell and Gates land and named for Col. George Nicholas (key author of Kentucky's 1792 constitution), it became the county seat that spring and still anchors the Bluegrass south of Lexington.

Learn more

Cite this story

Published . Last revised .

Chicago

Snowden, Shannon. "Nicholasville Takes Shape." Kentucky History Drive. Published September 12, 2026. Last revised October 18, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/nicholasville-takes-shape/.

MLA

Snowden, Shannon. "Nicholasville Takes Shape." Kentucky History Drive, published 12 Sept. 2026, last revised 18 Oct. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/nicholasville-takes-shape/.

Report a correction

Open this story on the timeline Open on the map