National Register Nomination for the James E. Pepper Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky
Project Description: The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources. To be considered eligible, a property must meet the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. This involves examining the property’s age, integrity, and significance.
CRA has extensive experience preparing National Register nominations. In 2009 alone, we completed over a dozen nominations for a variety of clients including federal agencies and private owners. The James E. Pepper Distillery is an example of one of the properties successfully nominated to the National Register by CRA. Constructed in 1880, the James E. Pepper Distillery was the only fully operational whiskey distillery in Fayette County, Kentucky during the post-Repeal era. The Pepper distillery stands as the sole expression of the local industrial heritage to survive Prohibition and to continue operations within modern, state of the art facilities. While other distilleries in Kentucky survived Prohibition, the Pepper Distillery is considered to be a particularly uniform and intact example.
Developing a context for evaluation is a fundamental concept of the National Register evaluation process. CRA is proud to note that, on their official website, the National Park Service uses the Pepper Distillery nomination prepared by CRA as an example of how to write a historic context for a property eligible under Criterion A.
