I remember back when my husband and I were dating, he took me through this little town on our way to visit his grandparents. The City Hall building had a cannon ball in one of the pillars. It was from the Civil War.

Eventually my husband began taking a different route because of this scarry OLD bridge that was falling apart. I hated going over it and was terrified that someone was eventually going to fall through one of the gaping holes in that bridge.

So fast forward to this past summer when we were back in the Kansas City area and we were heading to my in-laws (they now own the grandparents farm). There was a lot of flooding and we had to take a route that lead us up by Lexington, MO. Thankfully they have a new bridge. I suggested that we stop in Lexington to show the kids the cannon ball.

As we drove through the downtown streets I asked if we could swing by (it was just a couple of blocks) the old historic homes. My husband said that was fine but he wanted to take all of us by the battle field.

OK–this is the FIRST time I have been told about this battlefield. So we drive by the museum. {video at this link}

It was a Sunday and it was closed. Someday when we go back I want to take the kids to go see it.

You can tour the old Anderson home.

Sorry this is a little blurry–it was as close as I could get –out in the battle field to take a photo with it being closed.

The Anderson home was taken from the family and used as a hospital. Both sides captured the home. There are bullet holes both on the inside and outside of the home.

Just last month they had their 150 year anniversary for the Battle of Lexington, also known as the battle of Hemp Bales. Your children have probably learned about this war when they studied the Civil War.

You can read some information about this battle {here}.

Just next to the home is nothing but rolling hills where the battle took place.  (City Hall and the battle field are only a couple of blocks away from each other.)

We got out of the car and I noticed a stone marker so we headed over to take a look.

Right next to this beautiful marker is a roped off area for 5 unkonown soldiers.

5 unknown soldiers who never made it home. Their families probably never knew what happened to them.

There are no armed guards protecting this gravesite of unknown soldiers. It is jst a simple little grave site. My guess is that there are many more unknown soldiers burried on that land.

My family paying respect.

Kiosks are set up on the battle field telling about different events that happened.

This was an unplanned stop so we weren’t able to spend as much time as we would have liked.

Next we went back to look at those historical homes. (Sorry for windshield glare–I did not get out of the car to take the photos–time was crunching quickly.)

These homes sit just a few blocks from the battlefield.

Here is a fixer upper that needs to be brought back to its OLD GLORY!

I thought you might enjoy the tour of Lexington, MO.