A series of hands-on historic preservation skills training workshops beginning in April and continuing through October has been announced by the Kentucky Heritage Council / State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with local partners around the state. The first, Historic Bricks: Discover the Lost Arts of Red Masonry, will take place April 1-4 at the Pope Villa in Lexington with internationally known consultant and educator Dr. Gerard Lynch of Great Britain and Miles Miller, owner of Rochester-Miller Restoration, Inc., in Paris and restoration mason for the Pope Villa.

The workshop is sponsored by the Heritage Council, Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and University of Kentucky College of Design Department of Historic Preservation. Hands-on techniques, demonstrations and lectures will be featured, including brick making, lime slaking and mortar preparation, causes of brick failure, re-pointing, penciling, color washing, brick slips and more.

The public is invited to a free lecture by Dr. Lynch, Putting Value Back into Craft Education and Training, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 31 at Lexington Public Library. Workshop registration is $400 including materials. A daily morning presentation prior to hands-on instruction is free to students and registered participants, or $25 a day for others. For registration, contact the Blue Grass Trust, 859-253-0362, or email Julie Good, executive director, jgood@bluegrasstrust.org, or Patrick Kennedy, Heritage Council restoration project manager, 502-564-7005, ext. 138 or patrick.kennedy@ky.gov.

Located at 326 Grosvenor Avenue in Lexington, the historic Pope Villa (www.popevilla.org) was designed by one of America’s first professional architects, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an immigrant who in 1803 was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as Surveyor of Public Buildings, responsible for the continuing design and construction of the White House and U.S. Capitol. Pope Villa is considered among the most important Federal-style buildings surviving in the U.S.

Dr. Lynch (www.brickmaster.co.uk) is a historic brickwork consultant, master bricklayer, educator and author. His most recent book, History of Gauged Brickwork: Conservation, Repair and Modern Application, has just been published. He was the keynote speaker for the 2006 Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference in Covington and in the U.S. has worked on restoration of the St. Mary’s Chapel in Maryland and is an advisor for President James Madison’s Virginia home, Montpelier. Among his many accomplishments, he is a former head lecturer at Bedford College, where he pioneered a revival of interest in gauged brickwork, a craft skill dating to the Renaissance. In 2007 he was awarded the Askins Achievement Award by his peers at the International Preservation Trades Workshop (www.iptw.org).

Miles Miller is recognized as one of Kentucky’s premier masons for 19th-century historic structures. He has twice received the Blue Grass Trust’s Preservation Craftsman of the Year Award and is also a recipient of the Ida Lee Willis Memorial Foundation’s Service to Preservation Award.

Two workshops are being offered in Old Washington in Mason County by Maysville Community and Technical College (MCTC) in cooperation with Old Washington, Inc., and the Kentucky Heritage Council. Participants will work directly on sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places:

• May 12-16: Brick Masonry for Historic Buildings n Ideal for homeowners, masons and others who would like to learn more about the historic methods of building brick structures and how to repair and maintain them. The instructor will be Miles Miller of Rochester-Miller Restoration, Inc.

• May 19-23: Window Sash Restoration n Suitable for contractors, homeowners, beginners and others interested in techniques for restoring historic wood windows. Working with lead-safe practices will be taught throughout the course. The instructor will be Andy Roeper of Lyndeborugh, New Hampshire, a member of the Preservation Trades Network and owner of Winn Mountain Restorations (www.winnmountainrestorations.com).

Class size is limited. To register, contact MCTC at (606) 759-7141, ext. 66120; for additional information, directions or other questions call Orloff Miller, (606) 564-0250.

Three upcoming courses are being offered through the Pine Mountain School for Practical Historic Preservation, a partnership of Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County and the Kentucky Heritage Council:

• May 16-18 n Diagnosing Historic Buildings: Best Treatment Options, with instructors Thomas McDowell and Michael Spencer of the UK College of Design Department of Historic Preservation. McDowell has been a preservation craftsman, project manager, consultant and preservation design builder for over three decades, and he regularly inspects monumental historic buildings for the federal government. Spencer is an assistant professor in the UK historic preservation department and will be demonstrating non-invasive diagnostic technologies.

• June 22-27 n Practical Preservation: Square Log Building, led by log building expert Moss Rudley of the National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center. This workshop will feature extensive hands-on experience and include demonstrations of full and partial log replacement, log end replacement, chinking and daubing procedures and more.

• October 10-12 n From the Ground Up: The Art of Building Dry Stone Walls with instructor Richard Tufnell, co-founder of the U.S. Dry Stone Conservancy, Inc. Presentations will focus on the history of this art, demonstrations, and hands-on repair of a stone wall on settlement school grounds. Suitable for those with little or no building experience as well as those with more advanced skills. Tufnell, an award-winning stone mason from Scotland, makes annual trips to the United States to work on special projects.

For more information see www.pinemountainsettlementschool.com or contact Patrick Kennedy at the Heritage Council. Pine Mountain Settlement School is a National Historic Landmark, founded in 1913 as a school for children in Kentucky’s remote southeastern mountains and a social center for surrounding communities. Today, the school provides instruction in environmental education, Appalachian culture and crafts.

An agency of the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet, the Kentucky Heritage Council / State Historic Preservation Office is responsible for the identification, protection and preservation of historic and cultural resources throughout the Commonwealth, in partnership with other state and federal agencies, local communities and interested citizens. This mission is integral to making communities more livable and has a far-ranging impact on issues as diverse as economic development, jobs creation, affordable housing, tourism, community revitalization, environmental conservation and quality of life. www.heritage.ky.gov