Kentucky Heritage Council
Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board to meet April 25 to consider National Register nominations

Kentucky Heritage Council / State Historic Preservation Office
NEWS RELEASE

Release Date
IMMEDIATE
April 24, 2007

Contact: Diane Comer
502-564-7005, ext. 120
diane.comer@ky.gov

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board will consider nominations of six sites for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and one boundary expansion, during its next meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 25 at the historic StoneBrook Winery at 6570 Vineyard Lane in Camp Springs, Campbell County.  The meeting is open to the public.

Administered by the National Park Service and state historic preservation offices, the National Register is the nation’s official list of historic and archaeological resources deemed worthy of preservation.  Kentucky has the fourth highest number of National Register listings in the nation, with more than 3,200 listings of districts, sites and structures encompassing more than 41,000 historic features.  The Kentucky Heritage Council administers the National Register program in Kentucky.

Nominations to be reviewed at the meeting, by county, are:

Bracken County

The Abraham Baker Vineyard, just outside of Augusta, proposes the addition of 69 acres to the National Register, which would join the two acres surrounding the Baker Wine Cellar that gained listing in 1974.  Entrepreneur Abraham Baker, Jr., employed Germans immigrating to the area in the 1850s to establish one of Kentucky’s most prolific wine-making properties.  Through his efforts, Bracken County became one of the nation’s most productive wine-making counties into the 1870s. 

Campbell County

The John “Buttermilk” Weber Farm, just north of Camp Springs, stands among more than two dozen places in rural Campbell County already listed in the National Register for showing a significant colonization of the area by German immigrants in the mid-19th century.  Most made their living as farm families, many erecting distinctive field stone houses, with several contributing to a multi-county wine industry that made Kentucky a nationally ranked producer of wine in the years before and after the Civil War.

Clark County

Clark County became a crossroads for several railroads in the late 19th century.  Hedges, a small community east of Winchester, emerged where the Kentucky Union and the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy railroads came together.  Outside of Hedges, an African American community, Fairlie, sprang into being, comprising several houses and a few shops and churches.  Only the Corinth Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, an 1890s structure, remains to document the existence of this once-thriving community.

Jefferson County
When completed in 1927, The Olympic Apartments at West Breckinridge and South Third Street in Louisville opened as a 40-unit apartment building in a thriving area immediately north of Old Louisville.  The structure commands a prominent corner location, an advantageous spot to show off its exuberant Commercial Craftsman styling.  The building’s design combines brick, stone and terra cotta to create a more ornamental version of this pervasive urban style employed nationwide in the years between World Wars.

Knott County

The Knott County Arts and Craft Foundation has rehabilitated two Hindman buildings so that they can once again serve a commercial function.  Constructed in 1914, the Old Ben Franklin Department Store at 16 West Main Street brought to this eastern Kentucky county seat an array of products from the world outside the mountains, thereby connecting the community with national trends and consumer goods.  The Bolen Building, at 85 West Main Street, also housed modern-era activities that brought the world a little closer – a taxi service, the local phone exchange and a department store – all under the tenure of local entrepreneurs Coot and Bee Bolen.  Original construction dates to 1920.  The recent conversion of these buildings reverses this flow of goods: the buildings now house businesses that sell locally produced crafts to the rest of the world.

Pulaski County

Nomination of the Gover-Hardin House at 307 West Mt. Vernon Street in Somerset highlights the house’s Colonial Revival design.  Colonial Revival began its ascent as a popular fashion in the 1870s, but it was not until the dawn of the 20th century that the style began to achieve popular acceptance.  By 1930, when the Gover-Hardin House was constructed, it had come to dominate much residential design.  Except for the house’s exaggerated Georgian entry surround, the simplified detailing on this Somerset residence recalls the earliest Kentucky houses, those built across the state from 1790-1820.

Under the National Historic Preservation Act, the Kentucky Heritage Council is authorized to identify and recommend eligible cultural resources for listing in the National Register.  To facilitate the nomination process, the Heritage Council maintains extensive inventories of Kentucky's historic and archaeological resources and periodically conducts surveys in communities throughout the state.  Nominations approved for National Register listing by the Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board are forwarded for final consideration to the Park Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which usually issues a final determination of listing within 60 to 90 days.

National Register listing can be applied to buildings, objects, structures, districts and archaeological sites.  Proposed sites must be significant in architecture, engineering, American history or culture, or possess a special role in the development of our country.  The status does not affect property ownership rights but does provide a measure of protection against adverse impacts from federally funded projects.  Owners of National Register properties may qualify for federal or state tax credits for certified rehabilitation of these properties or by making a charitable contribution of preservation easements.

More information is available by contacting Perry at 502-564-7005, ext. 132 or via e-mail at marty.perry@ky.gov, or visit the Heritage Council Web site at www.heritage.ky.gov/national_register.htm.  For more information about or directions to StoneBrook Winery, see www.stonebrookwinery.com. 

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