Athens (locally /ˈeɪθənz/ AY-thənz) is a small unincorporated village in Fayette County to the east of Interstate 75 in Kentucky in the United States.

First settled in 1786 as the community of Cross Plains,[2] the town was chartered as Athens in 1826[3] and had its own post office from that time until 1906.

[5] The Athens Historic District contains the remaining buildings of an early 19th-century village established in the southernmost part of Fayette County.

The community of Cross Plains was founded in 1783 and renamed Athens in 1825 after the Kentucky General Assembly chartered the town.

In 1853-54 all the business houses on the south side of Main Street, west of the Cleveland pike were swept away in a single blaze.