Hunt-Morgan House, Lexington, KY, Bezoekersgids & wat te doen in de buurt

The Hunt-Morgan House is a Federal-style mansion at 251 West Second Street in Lexington, Kentucky, on the edge of Gratz Park. Built in 1814 and first called Hopemont, it was the home of the wealthy merchant John Wesley Hunt and is the birthplace of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan. It is one of the best-known historic houses in one of Lexington's oldest neighbourhoods.

The story behind it

John Wesley Hunt built Hopemont in 1814, and he is often described as the first millionaire west of the Alleghenies. The house stayed in the family for generations. Hunt's grandson John Hunt Morgan, the Confederate cavalry commander, is among the best-known names linked to it. In 1866 Hunt's great-grandson Thomas Hunt Morgan was born here. He later won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on heredity and chromosomes.

The house sits at the south end of Gratz Park, and the square around it has its own history. It was the first Lexington home of Transylvania University, until fire destroyed the main building in 1829 and the school moved across Third Street. Also on the south side stands the former Carnegie Library, opened in 1906 and built of Bedford limestone to a design by Herman L. Rowe. Today it is the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

What to look for

• The balanced, symmetrical front of the house is typical of the Federal style, so look at how the windows and doorway are arranged.
• The corner position at Mill and Second Streets shows how the house faces both the street and the green space of Gratz Park.
• The pale Bedford limestone of the old Carnegie Library, at the south end of the park, contrasts with the older domestic architecture nearby.
• The lawns and mature trees of Gratz Park make a good spot to picture the Transylvania University building that stood here before the 1829 fire.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 15 to 30 minutes to see the outside of the house and walk around Gratz Park, longer if you plan to tour the interior.
• The house has been run as a historic house museum, but tours and access change, so check current opening hours before you go.
• Soft morning or late afternoon light shows the brickwork and the park at their best, and the streets are usually quieter then.
• The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning is a short walk along the same side of the park, and downtown Lexington is close by on foot.

See it on a quest

Ghost Hunt in Lexington passes the Hunt-Morgan House as one stop on a longer walk through the area. You reach the house on foot, the app tells you about it as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. With its ghost-hunting theme, it suits an evening stroll. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join.