WELCOME TO PRESERVATION KENTUCKY

Preserving Kentucky’s Heritage Through Advocacy and Education

 

We are a statewide membership-based 501(c)(3) public charity nonprofit that fosters the preservation of Kentucky’s historic buildings, rural landscapes and archaeological sites through advocacy and education.  Our mission is to help preserve our diverse history, architectural legacy and material cultural for communities throughout the state.  Our goals are to advocate the economic benefits of historic preservation for community revitalization and neighborhood stabilization; provide resources and technical assistance on the methods, materials and treatment of historic properties; and to connect Kentuckians with their heritage by helping them appreciate and protect their history.

 

“Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place.”

Daniel Boone, American Pioneer, Explorer, Frontiersman and Folk Hero

 

“It’s been said that, at its best, preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present

over a mutual concern for the future.”

William Murtagh, First Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places

 

Help Preserve and Protect Kentucky’s Heritage with a Gift — Donate Here

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Meet our 2024 Excellence in Preservation Award Recipients

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CURRENT ACTIVITIES
  • Saving Kentucky’s Historic Courthouses

    Kentucky is in danger of losing our most endearing and defining landmarks—our historic county courthouses. Throughout the state, county courthouses have endured moments of great discourse in American history, leaving some tattered in the wake. Others have faced controversy for simply being historic, but those that have endured are better for it. Their placement and role in our communities has made them the site of many noteworthy events and personal milestones. All are receptacles of our varied and diverse heritage and tell the story of our state history. All deserve to be preserved....

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  • Improvements to KY’s State Historic Preservation Tax Credit Make it More Accessible to More Communities!

    Kentucky’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit has been a vital economic development tool to revitalize neighborhoods, Main Streets and downtowns, create jobs, put Kentuckians to work and keep them in the workforce, return once-vacant buildings to tax rolls, and generate revenue statewide. Over the years, Preservation Kentucky and supporters throughout the state have advocated for improvements to KY's HTC to provide critical economic development incentives for historic properties owners in both urban and rural areas from Paducah to Pikeville. ...

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  • Enjoy Visiting Our Tour120 Sites!

    TOUR120 SHOWCASES KENTUCKY’S HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE! Preservation Kentucky’s Tour120 is an exciting new statewide heritage tourism program designed to raise awareness of the importance of historic preservation to Kentucky’s communities, and raise funds to help the nonprofits that preserve, manage and showcase them. Tour120 launched during National Historic Preservation Month and continues throughout the year to feature historic sites important to our state heritage and help increase visitors. Enjoy the Tour120 experience by visiting sites throughout Kentucky....

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Why Preserve?

Revitalizing Kentucky’s Heritage is good for the neighborhood, good for the environment, good for the economy – Preservation is Good Business!  There are financial, cultural, and environmental incentives for incorporating historic preservation into residential, commercial or religious projects.  Historic buildings are adaptable and built to last, making them great incubators for small businesses.  And compared to the rents of new buildings, which are subject to new construction and materials costs, older buildings frequently maintain affordable rents.  This article examines both the cultural and practical values of old buildings and looks at why preserving them is beneficial not only for a community’s culture, but also for its local economy.

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Preservation Kentucky’s Easement Program  

One of the best ways to protect and preserve historic properties is with a conservation easement.  Placing a conservation / historic preservation easement on a building monitored by Preservation Kentucky ensures the preservation of the property in perpetuity.  It may also qualify as a charitable donation, providing financial tax benefit to the owner. To learn more about why historic preservation matters to your community, check out this publication from respected economist Donavon Rypkema of PlaceEconomics Twenty-Four Reasons Historic Preservation is Important to Your Community

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Endangered Buildings Fund Helps Save Kentucky’s Architectural Heritage

Help protect historic sites with a contribution to our Endangered Buildings Fund, which focuses on buildings threatened with demolition. Historic preservation revitalizes Main Streets, neighborhoods and downtowns, puts people to work and keeps them in the workforce, creates jobs, returns vacant buildings to tax rolls, and generates income for community improvements.  If you enjoy shopping along our charming Main Streets, driving through historic neighborhoods and visiting our historic landmarks, then you know why historic preservation is important to communities throughout the Commonwealth.  Historic places contribute to our quality of life and vibrant communities by connecting us to our heritage and defining our strong sense of place.

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When we build, let us think we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! This our father did for us.”

– John Ruskin

Thank You To Our Generous Giving Society and Sustaining Donors

Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer

Owsley & Christina Brown Fund

Edith S. Bingham

Lois Mateus Peters

Louisville Water Company

Kentucky Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities

Jeffrey A. Underhill and Underhill Associates

Ted and Joan Stone

Our Generous Members

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