Since 1949, the Kentucky Historical Highway Marker program has erected more than 1,800 markers that highlight the rich diversity of the state's local and regional history as well as topics of statewide, and sometimes national, importance. They provide on-the-spot Kentucky history lessons, depicting subjects as diverse as a seven-year-old boy who served as a drummer in the Revolutionary War to a centuries-old sassafras tree.
Roadside History is a key to the markers, enabling travelers to read Kentucky history without stopping to see each marker as they pass. There are two indexes arranged by subject and county.