Education and Training

The Kentucky Heritage Council is committed to education and training in many facets of its programming, for example:

Preservation Skills Training – Learn by Doing

Since 2002, the Kentucky Heritage Council and the Pine Mountain Settlement School, a National Historic Landmark District, have partnered to present an annual series of hands-on training events.  This partnership, known as the Pine Mountain School for Practical Historic Preservation, []conducts workshops that are intense but fun hands on sessions.  They feature dedicated and experienced instructors who take time off from their full time careers to help educate others in the skills needed to properly care for and repair historic buildings. Traditional construction methods are taught and practical preservation using modern techniques is emphasized.
 
 Only significant historic buildings on or near the campus are used to demonstrate the hands-on techniques.  Not only do the buildings benefit, but these programs provide participants quality instruction and the opportunity to work on historic landmark sites that feature a variety of materials and construction methods, all in a secluded setting over a week or weekend in the Appalachian Mountains.  Students leave with the knowledge of using new and old tools to meet their preservation goals.  To quote one student, an owner of an historic log building, “you have taught me methods to work on my building but more importantly you have given me the confidence that I can do the work”.

Since 2004, the Kentucky Heritage Council has also partnered with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) to develop training curricula and offer preservation skills training workshops during the summer at various campuses across the state.  Other partners in recent years have included The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation, owners of the Pope Villa in Lexington Kentucky, the University of Kentucky’s College of Historic Architecture and Preservation and Preservation Kentucky Inc., Kentucky’s statewide preservation advocate.

Several of our workshops have been filmed by our friends from Appalshop Inc. in Whitesburg Kentucky.  Copies may be requested by contacting Patrick Kennedy at patrick.kennedy@ky.gov or 502-564-7005, ext. 138.

Preservation Trades Network
Rudy R. Christian, PTN Executive Director
PO Box 249
Amherst, New Hampshire 03031-0249
Phone: (330)465-1504
Web site:http://www.iptw.org/ 

American College of the Building Arts
1362 McMillan Avenue, Suite 102
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405
Phone: (843) 577-5245
Toll free: (877) 283-5245
Web site: www.buildingartscollege.us 

Belmont Technical College
120 Fox-Shannon Place
St. Clairsville, OH 43950
Phone: (740) 695-9500
Web site: http://www.btc.edu/bpr/ 

College of the Redwoods
7351 Tompkins Hill Rd.
Eureka, CA 95501-9300
Phone: (707) 476-4353
Web site: www.redwoods.edu 

Harford County Community College
401 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015
Phone: 410-836-4000 x7179
Web site: http://www.harford.edu/bpr 

North Bennet Street School
39 North Bennet Street
Boston, MA 02113
Phone: (617) 227-0155
Web site: www.nbss.org

Timber Framers Guild
PO Box 60
Becket, MA 01223  
Phone and fax: 888-453-0879 (toll-free)
Web site: http://www.tfguild.org/ 

Colorado Mountain College
Central Services Office
831 Grand Ave.
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Phone: 800-621-8559
Web site: http://www.coloradomtn.edu/historicpreservation/ 

Heritage Education

Kentucky Heritage Council staff work with educators to incorporate Kentucky’s historic places as classroom resources.  Real places in their own communities often make an even stronger connection for students than those more famous but farther away, often sparking students to learn more about their own community.  These places inspire investigations that enable students to develop a variety of basic and higher-order thinking skills.  They learn to observe, gather facts, compare and contrast, synthesize and analyze, evaluate sources of evidence, develop and test hypotheses, and draw conclusions.  Because places teach skills as well as content, they are well-suited to help teachers meet both state and national curriculum standards in social studies, history, geography and other subjects.

Currently Heritage Council staff are working in partnership with the Letcher County School Board and Kentucky Historical Society on the Documenting American Democracy project funded by a Teaching American History Grant – a professional development program for teachers in southeast Kentucky.  Staff also partner with Preservation Kentucky, Inc. to coordinate the Annual Photo-Essay Competition for students who select, photograph and write about historic places in their communities and explain why they believe them to be significant and worthy of preservation.

Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference

Since 1986 the Kentucky Heritage Council has coordinated a biennial statewide conference to focus attention on historic preservation efforts throughout Kentucky and to provide technical assistance and training to local organizations and community leaders.  This conference has taken place in various communities across Kentucky.  Historic places in each of these locations have served as the meeting backdrop to highlight successes and issues in preservation as well as provide a venue for Kentuckians to learn from guest speakers and presenters from other states and countries.

The 2008 Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference took place September 4-6 in Bardstown with the theme Preserving the Spirit of Home.  Following is a list of previous conferences and host communities:

May 9-10, 1986
Preservation in Perspective – Louisville

October 2-3, 1987
Preservation in Detail – Lexington

September 21-23, 1989
Partners in Preservation – Louisville

September 26-28, 1991
Preservation in Profile – Covington

September 22-25, 1993
Preserving the Diversity – Bardstown

September 21-23, 1995
Preserving Real Places – Lexington

September 11-13, 1997
Preserving Community – Bowling Green

May 18-20, 2000
Planning to Preserve – Louisville

August 1-3, 2002
In Tune with Preservation – Centre College, Danville

September 2004
Restore America: Communities at the Crossroads
National Historic Preservation Conference – Louisville

September 28-40, 2006
The ART of Preservation – Covington