Athens is a Fayette county village located at the junction of KY 418 and KY 1973. It was settled around 1783 and was known as Cross Plains for the crossing of two buffalo traces at the site. The town was laid out in 1826 as Athens, possibly referring to nearby Lexington's nickname, "The Athens of the West." The Athens post office opened in 1826 and closed in 1909.

Daniel Boone and some of his family moved from nearby Boonesborough about 1782 and established a settlement outside of the present town of Athens on Baughman Fork. A Boon's Station post office operated at that site during 1812 and 1813. (Boone moved to Maysville in 1786.) The Boone Station State Historic Site on Gentry Road marks the site of the settlement.