Lexington
National Cemetery
833
West Main Street
Lexington, Ky 40508
Phone: (859) 885-5727
FAX: (859) 887-4860 |
Office Hours:
Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed federal holidays.
Visitation Hours:
Open daily from dawn to dusk. |
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Burial Space: This
cemetery is closed to new interments. However, space may be available
in the same gravesite for eligible family members.
Acreage: 0.8
Number of
Interments Thru Fiscal Year 2005: 1,390
General Information Kiosk on Site? No
Floral/Ground Regulations: This
Cemetery's Regulations |
Directions
from nearest airport:
Cemetery
is located in the city of Lexington. The nearest airport is Lexington
Blue Grass Airport. Take Versailles Road to Circle 4 West to Leestown
Road onto Lexington's Main Street. The National Cemetery is located
within the Lexington Cemetery. |
GENERAL INFORMATION
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HISTORICAL
INFORMATION
Lexington National Cemetery
originated in 1861 as a small soldier’s lot within Lexington City
Cemetery, a place that in its heyday was considered “one of the
most beautiful and carefully kept rural cemeteries in the United States.”
The first burial in the soldier’s lot was made during the Civil
War on Nov. 28, 1861. In 1863, the soldiers’ lot was designated
a national cemetery. In 1867, the government purchased an additional 0.38
acres that doubled the cemetery’s size to its current three-quarters
of an acre.
The cemetery tract is triangular,
with graves arranged in concentric circles. Its boundaries are marked
by carved marble posts emblazoned with “US.” A bronze plaque
identifies this property as Lexington National Cemetery. Of the original
burials, 671 were non-commissioned officers and privates who died in hospitals
or camps operating around Lexington during the war. After the war, Quartermaster
Corps personnel were charged with locating all Union soldier’s remains
and re-interring them in national cemeteries. Additional soldiers who
had fallen in battles at Falmouth, Cynthiana, Mount Sterling, Paris and
along the Kentucky Central Railroad line were buried at Lexington National
Cemetery.
The soldier’s portion
closed to burials in 1939, but it and the surrounding city cemetery remain
a neatly maintained and picturesque burial ground. It was listed on National
Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Monuments
and Memorials
By 1869, a 32-pound
seacoast artillery gun was mounted vertically as a memorial, like those
found in many other national cemeteries, but it was removed early in the
20th century. There are no monuments or memorials in the cemetery today.
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NOTABLE
BURIALS
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FLORAL/GROUNDS
REGULATIONS
Please contact the cemetery
directly for information on their floral regulations.
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