Frankfort

The city’s name is a memorial nobody chose on purpose. In 1780, pioneer Stephen Frank was killed near a crossing on the Kentucky River, and settlers started calling the spot “Frank’s Ford” in his memory; the town founded there in 1786 shortened it to Frankfort. When Kentucky became a state in 1792, five commissioners had to choose a capital from Louisville, Lexington and five smaller towns, and picked Frankfort largely because its backers offered the most inducements, right down to the nails.

The Kentucky River makes a wide S-curve through the middle of town, which is why Frankfort still reads as a river town first and a capital second, with distinct pockets — Downtown, South Frankfort, Bellepoint — separated more by the water and the hills than by any real distance. During the Civil War, Confederate troops briefly occupied the city on September 3, 1862, the only time Confederate forces took control of a Union state capital.

Kentucky has built three capitols on or near this spot, and lost the first two to fire. The current one, a 1910 Beaux-Arts building with staircases modeled on the Paris Opera, closed to the public on August 20, 2025 for a renovation expected to run through 2029. The good news is that its most photographed feature, a floral clock made of 10,000 living flowers, sits outside on the lawn and never closed at all.

With the current Capitol closed for renovation, the Old State Capitol is the building most visitors come for: a Greek Revival building finished in 1837, designed by 25-year-old architect Gideon Shryock to link young Kentucky to ancient Greece. It served as the actual seat of Kentucky government from 1830 to 1910 and has been a museum since 1920, restored to its Civil War-era look. One admission ticket also covers the adjoining Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, which opened in 1999 and traces 12,000 years of the state’s past through more than 3,000 objects.

*Fees subject to change, please check history.ky.gov for updated information.

The bourbon ball was invented right here. Ruth Hanly Booe, who co-founded Rebecca Ruth Candies in Frankfort in 1919, created the chocolate-covered, bourbon-filled candy in 1938, and it’s still considered the Kentucky Derby-season classic statewide.

Frankfort is a state-government town. We were unable to confirm how downtown restaurant hours change when the General Assembly is in session, or which places stay open in the evening.

No NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL or MLS team plays anywhere near Frankfort, and there isn’t a minor-league team here either — this is a state-government town first, and the nearest bigger games are in Lexington and Louisville.

9 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Frankfort in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.

• CincinnatiOhioabout 65 mi
• DaytonOhioabout 110 mi
• Santa ClausIndianaabout 110 mi
• Bowling GreenKentuckyabout 120 mi
• IndianapolisIndianaabout 130 mi
• ColumbusOhioabout 160 mi
• CharlestonWest Virginiaabout 180 mi
• Country Music Hall of FameTennesseeabout 180 mi
• NashvilleTennesseeabout 180 mi

Half a day covers downtown Frankfort — the history museum campus, the Floral Clock and a bourbon-ball stop — and a full day adds Buffalo Trace and the cemetery without rushing.

Check ahead before you plan around the Capitol. The current Capitol building is closed for renovation into 2029; the Old State Capitol and the Floral Clock are the ones actually open to visit.

Buffalo Trace tours are booked by online reservation, with limited walk-up availability. The distillery says demand is high and it may not be able to host every guest at the time they want; its reservation calendar opens up to 8 weeks ahead, with new tour dates released weekly on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Eastern time.

Frankfort is smaller and quieter than either Lexington or Louisville, which makes it an easy half-day add-on between the two rather than a full separate stop on its own.

Old State Capitol & Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History

Address

100 W Broadway St, Frankfort, KY 40601

Hours

Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm

Price

$8 adults, includes all Kentucky Historical Society campus locations and daily tours^*

Link

history.ky.gov/visit

*Fees subject to change, please check history.ky.gov for updated information.

We checked closures and fees on 2026-09-21. These change without notice — confirm with en.wikipedia.org and history.ky.gov the week you travel.

Straight-line distance from Frankfort, not drive time.

• Blue Grass (LEX) — 18 miles
• Bowman Field (LOU) — 43 miles
• Louisville Muhammad Ali International (SDF) — 47 miles