"The Highlands Museum & Discovery Center provides avenues of discovery to children and visitors of all ages. Interactive exhibits, educational experiences and innovative programs, both cultural and historical, celebrate our past, explore our present and enrich our future."

The Kentucky Highlands Museum was organized in 1984 as a historical and cultural center for the Ashland, Kentucky, area. The Museum was housed in the historical Mayo Mansion until taking up residency in downtown Ashland’s Main Street District in the first floor, basement, and mezzanine levels of the former C. H. Parsons Department Store in 1994. In 1997, the museum, following a strategic planning process, changed its name to the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center with the above mission statement.

The museum achieves its mission with three goals:

• Education for all ages about the past, the present and the future
• Heritage and artifact collection and interpretation
• Cultural tourism destination for US Byway and US 23 Country Music Highway

In 2003-2004, the museum began a capital campaign to raise funds to both renovate the museum spaces of the Parsons Department Store in downtown Ashland and clarify the region’s history with interpretive exhibits. The campaign also provided for a permanent endowment to support future operating

Phase I of the renovation plans, as a result of this campaign, began in November 2005 and was completed in January, 2006. The museum’s commitment to downtown Ashland in the upgrades and renovation to the building have added to it’s reputation as a heritage institution for residents, as an attraction for tourists, and as a key anchor in Ashland’s arts district.

Today, the Museum continues into Phase II of the campaign with further exhibit construction and a focus on the mezzanine spaces. In addition, the museum continues to work closely with The Community and Technical College Foundation of Ashland, Inc., the owner of the Parsons Department Store building, on their building renovation and upgrade plans. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary and with the generous support of our members and donors, the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center moves forward to tell our community’s story.