Fright Nights At Waveland

For those who are into historic tours, this has a lot to offer. You could to see about 75% of the house, the kitchen and the pantry and three bedrooms are not on the tour because of a grease fire that was in the warming Kitchen in the 1980s, and the lack of furniture for some of the additional rooms. However some interesting artifacts are at the house and you get to see the kitchen and the slave quarters as well. For seven dollars for an adult and four dollars for students, is a good way to spend about an hour. You need a little bit more out of the experience by walking to the gardens and some of the trails that are available, but the playground doesn’t have much to offer for kids.
I would recommend this for someone who’s interested in history in old houses, and inquiring further stories from the docents. If you only had a day in Lexington, this would probably not make my list of top historical tours, but for someone who wants something different to do on the weekend, I would recommend it.
The house was auctioned off and for awhile in between the original owners the house was owned by a farming family. Since the 50s this has either been owned by the state department or University of Kentucky, and the groups have done a good job returning it to its original look from the 1800s.

I needed to get out of the house today so after 14 years of hearing about it, I finally drove 2 miles over to the Site and walked around. It was a very relaxing walk with a few gardens to linger in. I obviously missed the peak-​spring blooms but other buds are coming in just in time for Summer.
Older kids will get bored quickly if you don’t bring a ball to kick/​throw around but younger ones will be distracted easily with the small playground on-​site. The log cabin playhouse is darling and no doubt the back-​drop in many photo shoots.
I’ve yet to take the house tour or walk through the gift shop but now that I know how charming the grounds are I’ll go back soon and update this review ;)

Pattern upon pattern. I love the Greek Revival tacky and loud carpets, drapes, wallpaper, and faux marble baseboards. The way that this historic home is decorated is over the top! I love cultural history, so an afternoon at a historic home is great entertainment for me.
Several of the tour guides dress in period costumes. I haven’t seen docents at any of the other historic homes in town dress in costume. In addition, unlike other historic homes in Lexington, Waveland has standing slave quarters included on the tour. Also included on the tour are the ice-​house and smokehouse. This a great representation of an Antebellum house and the tour provides interesting information on how a wealthy family lived in the «Athens of the West» during the 19^th century.
Waveland is a great place to pack a picnic lunch and enjoy beautiful scenery. Many families take pictures on the grounds. There is a lovely garden and a playhouse for children.

This is a beautiful place to visit. I like to take my kids there for a picnic and then let them play at the park. The kids favorite part is a little cottage that the kids can play in. They pretend to make fires in the fireplace and cook food. I like to take my family there for pictures. The grounds there are very pretty and the old building make for great backgrounds for pictures.

We arrived an hour or so before sunset, so unfortunately we missed the tours for that day. We walked around the grounds and peeped in some of the windows. Most of them had curtains, so we couldn’t see much. The place is not very big, so it didn’t take much time. It would have been nice to have some more signs with educational information, but it was very sparse.
Tours cost $ 7 for adults. Not sure if I’d go out of my way to visit this place.

I had never been to a plantation before, so I specifically came to Lexington in order to check out some old timey buildings of which they have a couple. The site of Waveland is well kept and complete as there are still the buildings that were slave quarters/​kitchens standing and the ice house.
Most of the furniture didn’t belong to the family that lived there, but is from the period and donated.
The tour guide was knowledgeable and worth the admission we paid.
My only issue was she made a comment about how slavery wasn’t so bad for the slaves that resided at Waveland because they had pretty nice quarters compared to other plantations. Ummmmm! Why would you surmise that? And why would you repeat it to a Black woman?
The last leg of the tour ended in a room that appears to be under construction as. They are creating an exhibit about slavery in Kentucky and they have some shackles and clothing that slaves would have worn. Once, that is completed it should be pretty nice.

This place is pretty frikkin sweet. The grounds are well kept and there are bbq’s and it’s all free. Besides the tour… Which is super cheesy and really cheap. Nice people though. Do the tour, intoxicated. Just don’t fall over stuff, it’s expensive, and old. Definitely bbq here for a chill day though.