Welcome to Athens ...

Athens is located in Fayette County<1>.

The location of Athens has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Athens, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1826.

Athens is 950 feet [290 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Athens lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you leave Athens and travel east, you will leave Eastern Time and cross into the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT).

Athens is located in the (859) area code.

Communities Also Named Athens ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 28 communities that are also named Athens - they are located in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas (2), Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Athens.

Communities near Athens ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Athens.

• Lexington - Fayette
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington - Fayette
  • Lexington - Fayette is located in Fayette County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 324,735 people
• Richmond
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond
  • Richmond is located in Madison County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 36,800 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richmond <4>
• Nicholasville
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicholasville
  • Nicholasville is located in Jessamine County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,888 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nicholasville <4>
• Winchester
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winchester have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
  • Winchester is located in Clark County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,659 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Winchester <4>
• Paris
  (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
  • Paris is located in Bourbon County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,719 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paris <4>
• Wilmore
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore
  • Wilmore is located in Jessamine County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,343 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wilmore <4>
• North Middletown
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Middletown
  • North Middletown is located in Bourbon County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 650 people
• Keene
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keene
  • Keene is located in Jessamine County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Keene <4>
• Pine Grove
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
  • Pine Grove is located in Clark County
• Boonesboro
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boonesboro
  • Boonesboro is located in Clark County

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Athens. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Athens.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Athens. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Athens.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Athens. See our Newspapers Page for Athens.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Athens ...

Looking for more information about Athens? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Athens, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Athens.

Adding Athens to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Athens in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Athens was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Athens post office opened in 1826.

We also found Athens in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Athens.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Athens. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Kentucky: https://kentucky.gov/