Hidden History Walking Tours 2023

Hidden History Walking Tours Begin in March 

at the Oldham County History Center 

Join Oldham County History Center director, Nancy Theiss, as she takes you on a walk where Hidden History abounds in LaGrange, a town created in the early Antebellum years of the 1800s that stole the county seat from its original site at Westport. As an esteemed center for the Kentucky Masonic College, students came from surrounding states before the Civil War to learn from the renowned Dr. Rob Morris. Morris, a Masonic professor earning the international title of Poet Laureate of Freemasonry for the 19^th Century, created the Order of the Eastern Star, giving a voice to women’s rights.  As the train rumbled through LaGrange in the early 1850s, the rumblings of freedom were shaking the foundation of slavery in slave states like Kentucky as the Underground Railroad became a force for freedom seekers. These and other topics are in the new book by Theiss, “Hidden History of LaGrange” (2022) The History Press. The walk will feature many of the places from the book in addition to other trivia and little known facts about this Antebellum Kentucky town.

The walking tour will be featured throughout the year and are family friendly, with a few of the walks designed specifically for children.  “Each day I learn something else about our small town,”  said Theiss, who was born in LaGrange and has lived here her own life.

“To understand history for me means to visit the places where ‘history happened’ so you can appreciate how the culture, environment and landscape affects places where you live over time. This is essential grounding for the way we think and perceive the world which gives insights to how and why things happen in our world today. It inspires me to do better when I can learn about the struggles of our community and people from the past who have sacrificed so much to make the world a better place.”

Theiss is no stranger to writing history books. In 2020 she authored “A Tour of the Underground Railroad along the Ohio River” where she visited sites along 664 miles of the Ohio River that had been identified as places of significance where freedom seekers, UGRR conductors, and places became an essential beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. She also authored “A Place in the Lodge: Dr. Rob Morris, Freemasonry and the Order of the Eastern Star” (2018) Westphalia Press. She traced the journey of Morris’ travels from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky to document the places where he lived and inspired his poetry and creation of the Order of the Eastern Star.

The tours begin at the Oldham County History Center, from 9:30AM – 11:30AM.  Cost is $5 per person or free to Oldham County History Center members.  Registration is required, call 502.222.0826

Dates for Hidden History Walking Tours, all tours take place on Saturdays, 9:30AM – 11:30AM:

March 18

April 15 (kid’s edition)

May 20

June 17 (special Juneteenth edition)

For more info: info@oldhamkyhistory.com, 502.222.0826, www.oldhamkyhistory.com

Facebook: Oldham County History Center, Instagram: oldhamkyhistory,  106 N. Second Ave, LaGrange KY. 40031