My grandfather in Maysville used to tell me, “You’ll never know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.” This statement rings true as we think about commemorating the United States’ sestercentennial, or 250th birthday, in 2026.
While the 1976 bicentennial broadly celebrated the country’s founding, the sestercentennial will explore the events and stories since our founding and how we have grown as a nation. To properly celebrate the occasion, the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) is administering the state commission that will examine Kentucky’s impact on the nation during the past 250 years.
While we all identify as Kentuckians, each city, town and region is remarkably different. Yet our geographical, topographical and cultural differences create a diverse landscape, rich with stories left untold. America250 presents us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand upon our intersecting histories to better reflect the diversity, struggles and successes that bind us all together as Kentuckians and as Americans.
To conceptualize such a broad commemoration, KHS is embarking on a series of statewide conversations in nine communities, including Ashland, Bowling Green, Covington, Lexington, Louisville, Middlesboro, Owensboro, Paducah and Pikeville. These community listening sessions will highlight each area’s regionally specific values and interests while providing insight into our commonalities across Kentucky. [The Paducah listening session will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the McCracken County Public Library, 555 Washington St.]
From these sessions, we will create a framework to guide our work while also giving communities, citizens and institutions around the state ideas for programming and implementation. Of course, these conversations cannot happen without input from Kentuckians. We encourage history organizations, museums, tourism directors, those in the arts and cultural fields and other interested citizens to attend. Apart from guiding our work, we hope these conversations will jump-start America250 efforts statewide and successfully tell the stories of where our state has come over the last 250 years.
We recognize that our state is much bigger than these nine places, and this is only the beginning of our journey together over the next few years. The task is enormous, and the breadth of our histories even larger. As we gaze into 2026 and beyond, we must reflect upon how we meet this moment and what it signifies as we move forward together, both as citizens of our places and as stewards of ideas that continue to inspire generations across our country.
To meet this moment, I reflect upon how my grandfather’s words represent generations of people who have fought, achieved, lost and persevered through the darkest and brightest moments in our nation’s history — never shying away from the difficulties of where they’ve been, the realities of where they are or the triumphs of where they’re going. Tyler McDaniel is the Kentucky Historical Society’s administrator for the America250KY Commission. For more information or to register to attend a community conversation, please visit this website.
Tyler McDaniel is the Kentucky Historical Society’s administrator for the America250KY Commission.
