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Preservation Initiative Looks at Central Kentucky
By
Laura Skillman
HODGENVILLE, Ky., (Aug. 11, 2006) - Barns of all shapes and
sizes dot Kentucky's rural landscape providing a sense of the
past and if one group has its way, a sense of the future as
well.
The Central Kentucky Heartland Rural Heritage Development
Initiative is exploring preservation-based rural economic
development, including farm building and farmland preservation.
The initiative brought in a team of national and regional
experts to tour the area and formulate an action plan, said Rick
Greenwell, Washington County Extension agent for agriculture and
natural resources for the University of Kentucky Cooperative
Extension Service and a member of the initiative's steering
committee.
“We want to come out of this with strategies for moving forward
as a region to protect our farms and provide more economic
opportunities,” he said.
 Kentucky
is one of two areas in the country that is part of a National
Trust for Historic Preservation pilot project that examines
using preservation ideas and principles as economic development
tools in rural areas, said Joanna Hinton, executive director of
Preservation Kentucky, a statewide nonprofit organization
focusing on preservation.
The National Trust received a $750,000 grant from the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation to implement the three-year pilot program in
the two locations. The grant funds are being matched with local
money and administered through Preservation Kentucky. The
Kentucky Heritage Council and Dry Stone Conservancy are also
partners in the initiative.
“We are focusing on heritage tourism, historic preservation,
farmland preservation and local business development,” Hinton
said. “The National Trust has a program called Barn Again! that
it runs with Successful Farming magazine. A part of this is
looking at barns and adaptive reuses of them so hopefully they
can continue to be useful on the farm and a part of the rural
landscape.”
Their efforts began last week with four days of touring
locations in Nelson, LaRue, Marion, Mercer, Boyle, Green, Taylor
and Washington counties. The tours included stops at two
farms in each county. The farms represented a variety of
agricultural enterprises including agritourism, produce markets
and large tobacco, beef and dairy operations. Barns on the tour
included some in need of preservation and others that have been
renovated and adapted to new uses.
The eight counties were selected, Hinton said, based on their
possible attraction to a national audience. With the
bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth coming, they decided to
use that as a hook, she said. Most of the counties have some tie
to Lincoln, such as LaRue County where he was born. Their
economies are similar, good routes exist between the contiguous
counties and tourist attractions such as Shaker Village at
Pleasant Hill, Bardstown and Lincoln’s Birthplace help to tie it
together.
The rural resource team visit was coordinated by Greenwell, who
is a member of the steering committee overseeing the entire
project, as well as a member of the resource team. He used
contacts with colleagues in local Extension offices to help find
the locations visited by the resource team. Once the findings
are complete, they hope to use the Extension Service network as
a means get the word out.
Greenwell said he became involved in the program after speaking
about agriculture to a committee reviewing applications from
states that had applied to be a part of the pilot. He said the
project is a natural fit for Extension with its focus on rural
community development, agritourism and farm preservation.
“Everyone you talk to says they want to preserve farmland, but
aren’t doing anything about it,” he said. “Well, this is an
effort to do something about it.”
The state has a leg up on many others in preserving farm
structures and converting them to modern uses, he said, thanks
to the agritourism grants through the Kentucky Agricultural
Development Board and Phase I tobacco money. Money from these
programs can be used to make improvements and revamp tobacco
barns for new uses.
 “Probably
the outcome will be a set of recommendations and a packet we can
take to the legislature,” he said. “The rest will be
recommendations on what individuals can do to help in the
preservation effort either on their farm or in their rural
community.”
Hinton said after the three-year pilot is concluded they hope to
have learned things that can be useful for all areas of
Kentucky.
National resource team members are Gerry Cohn, southeast
director, American Farmland Trust and Charles Law, University of
Wisconsin – Extension and president of the National Barn
Alliance. Regional members include Greenwell, Jan Johnston,
Bardstown-Nelson County Planning Department and Bill McCloskey,
Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy. Amy Sparrow Potts,
field representative for the central Kentucky initiative is
assisting Greenwell with team coordination. Colorado resident
Jim Lindberg, rural heritage coordinator for the National Trust
is the resource team leader.
“It’s really exciting to be in Kentucky because I’ve been
hearing about what’s going on here and to see it firsthand is
really important,” Lindberg said. “We have recognized that in
rural communities around the country that rural America is
changing. In some areas there’s a lot of growth and develop; in
other areas there’s a change in the farm economy that is taking
people off the land and we need to understand that and be
cognizant of how that is affecting heritage and the use of
structures.
“One of the things we are learning through this site visit is
how the rural economy is changing here and what impact that is
having on historic places and what are some things that might be
tested or tried or developed that could bring not only economic
revitalization, but also help save historic places – barns,
farmland, farmscapes,” Lindberg said. “One thing we’ve learned
in preservation is the best way to save a building is to find a
use for it. If there is a productive use for these structures
they have a lot better chance of staying on the landscape and
there is a real desire in rural areas to have a strong economy.”
Kentucky is seeing shifts in its rural structure because of
changes in tobacco production and growth spreading into areas
that were previously rural. The team is getting a chance to see
that play out, he said.
“What I’ve been struck with is, first of all, just the richness
of the landscape and the layers of history,” Lindberg said.
“I’ve also been struck by the creative approaches we’ve been
seeing and the passion of the people we’ve talked to for their
home and property.” |
Contact: Rick Greenwell, 859-336-7741
Amy Sparrow Potts, 270-358-9069 |
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The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with Teaching, Research and Extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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