MOREHEAD RAILROAD AND HISTORY MUSEUM
Rowan County has a new railroad and history museum. Established in 2016, the museum is a combination railroad and general history museum of Morehead, Rowan County and Eastern Kentucky. From railroad artifacts from the six historic railroads which ran in Rowan County, to the infamous Rowan County Feud and devastating flash flood of 1939, the museum houses artifacts large and small.
Museum Attractions
Sit atop a 1947 Farmall tractor and have your picture taken. Visit the blacksmith shop and its collection of tools from a bygone era. Listen to a player piano belt out “The Old Piano Roll Blues”. Visit a real moonshine still taken in a raid and see how moonshine is made. Local Native American artifacts from arrowheads to stone tools are on display as well as a six-foot radio controlled model of the “Belle of Louisville” steamboat back when she was called the “Avalon”. An early motion picture projector called the “Cosmograph,” manufactured right here in Morehead, is in the museum as well as displays of early timber industry and home appliances from the “good old days”. Kids of all ages will enjoy the model train displays and working layouts plus our large screen theatre room where live presentations and videos are frequent additions.
Bus Tours & More
Each year the museum sponsors a five hour bus tour tracing the routes of the six railroads which ran in Rowan and neighboring Morgan County, and each fall the museum hosts its “Railroad Good Old Days Festival” with rides, games, live old time music and storytelling.
Location:
130 East First Street
Morehead Kentucky
(across from the Morehead Conference Center)
Hours:
Thursday – Saturday
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Or by appointment by calling
606-784-6039 or 606-784-5122
ROWAN COUNTY VETERANS’ MUSEUM
Opened in 2010, the Rowan County Veterans’ Museum is dedicated to honoring our flag, military and veterans. A nonprofit organization committed to education and preservation, it has over 375 artifacts from all five branches of the military.
Free tours are frequently offered to educational and civic groups when requested.
Museum Attractions
Freedom Park, a memorial wall displaying names of Veterans, celebrates and commemorates our Rowan County Veterans who have served in the nation’s military.
The Doughboy Statue showcases an American WWI soldier and commemorates all those who served during the World War from Rowan County. The pedestal was placed in 1919 and the statue was placed in 1929.
Location:
118 University Blvd
Morehead, Kentucky
Hours:
Saturday
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
and on Patriotic Holidays
Or via appointment by calling
Mr. Danny Knipp at (606) 653-7190 or Bill Bolen at (606) 776-3147
KENTUCKY FOLK ART CENTER
The Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University is one of Kentucky’s special places. Located in the historic Union Grocery, the Center offers much more than a typical museum experience.
Museum Attractions
KFAC houses a permanent collection of nearly 1,400 pieces of self-taught art. Dozens of works from the collection are displayed on a rotating basis in the center’s first-floor gallery. Upon viewing folk art for the first time, many are attracted to its whimsical attributes, and we should take joy in these works as the artists intended. But in many instances, the art that you see on the walls at KFAC was born out of hard times. The works displayed here stand as a document of and testament to the concerns, courage, and convictions of the common man.
Location:
102 West First Street
Morehead, KY 40351
606-783-2204
website
Hours:
Monday – Saturday
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please call for holiday hours. Admission is FREE.
