2019 Field Trip to Lexington MO

Lafayette County Courthouse with cannonball from 1861 Battle of Lexington (photo by theCivilWarMuse)

Anderson House at Lexington State Historic Site (photo by theCivilWarMuse)

The Civil War Round Table of Kansas City has scheduled a field trip to Lexington, MIssouri, for Saturday, September 7, 2019. A sign-up sheet will be passed around at the July 2019 dinner meeting to determine the number of attendees. We will then contact the Battlefield Curator and the Lexington Museum Curator to arrange for tickets and make reservations. Plans for the trip are as follows:

• The field trip would be scheduled for a Saturday, either September 7 or 14, 2019.
• People would travel to Lexington in their own vehicles and meet at the visitor center at the battlefield at 9:30 a.m. That would allow us to actually start around 10:00 a.m., since there will probably be a few stragglers. Members and guests would be encouraged to car pool.
• The battlefield site opens at 9:00 a.m. and the first tour of the Anderson House is at 10:00 a.m. The park ranger suggested we view the 20-minute film first, tour the visitor center, then tour the battlefield. The battlefield is only a quarter-mile loop, so it wouldn't take long and would be do-able for most of our members.
• We would then take a guided tour of the Anderson House, an antebellum house on the grounds that was used as a hospital during the battle. The only cost is $5.00 for the house tour, which the ranger said takes about an hour. That would put us at noon or slightly later.
• We could then let folks go on their own for lunch, with a handout of suggested places to eat in Lexington.
• We would meet back together at 1:30 p.m. at the Lexington Historical Museum, which is housed in an antebellum church, and take a tour. Admission is $3.00. Presumably, that would put us at around 3:00 p.m.
• We would then release those on the tour to explore the downtown historic district, visit the Wentworth Military Academy museum, other parks and sites in the area, or head back home.
• We would provide maps and brochures of the other attractions that people may want to visit while in Lexington.

The entire field trip would har e no financial cost to the Round Table, and would cost members and guests less than $20 per person, including lunch. We could set up the tours ahead of time and let people know we're coming. There are plenty of things to see in the afternoon to keep people there beyond our museum tour.

Based on a show of hands at the April dinner meeting, it appears that there is a lot of interest in this field trip. More information regarding the trip will be provided in the coming month