Three Historic Districts: Preservation Bath’s 2026 Annual Lecture

Three Historic Districts: Preservation Bath’s 2026 Annual Lecture

By Danny Cardwell · Allegheny Mountain Radio

Preservation Bath will hold its 2026 Annual Lecture and Awards on Sunday, October 11, at 4 p.m., at the Holstein Barn at the Old Dairy in Warm Springs. This year’s lecture — “Traces on Spaces: Examining Our Historic Districts’ Hidden Stories” — will be given by architectural historians Debra McClane and Laura Purvis, who have done the research, surveys, and nominations for Bath County’s three historic districts. The lecture is free and open to the public, with a reception to follow.

Peter Fowler, a member of the Preservation Bath board of directors, joined me in the WCHG studios to talk about this year’s event. For full disclosure, I served two three-year terms on the board of Preservation Bath.

What stands out this year is the milestone the lecture marks. Bath County — a small county with no traffic signals — now has three designated historic districts: Warm Springs/West Warm Springs, Bacova, and most recently, Hot Springs.

“What’s really interesting is a very small county with no traffic signals now has three historic districts, which is pretty amazing,” Peter said. “There’s a dedicated group of people who travel around and are interested in viewing historic districts. Hot Springs should have been one of the first districts done, but for whatever reason, it became our third after Bacova and Warm Springs/West Warm Springs. But there was such a wealth of architecture, memories, and history there that making this designation will allow people invested in the community — or who want to be — to take advantage of tax credits in rehabilitating their structures. It will also attract people who really appreciate old and historic areas.”

The newly designated Hot Springs district takes in a lot of ground.

“The district encompasses many residential homes,” Peter said. “You’ve got Sam Snead’s Tavern, up to the Yard, down Shady Lane, up to the Heights, and up to The Homestead that are all included. On Main Street, it goes all the way down to McAllister’s. So there’s a wide range of commercial and residential properties that could take advantage of tax credits. We’re hoping this will be an impetus for a renaissance of Hot Springs itself.”

This year’s lecture, by consultants Debra McClane and Laura Purvis, will dig into the actual work behind those designations — the research, the field surveys, the paperwork that goes into a historic district nomination.

“It’s pretty fascinating, actually,” Peter said. “When consultants come into an area to create a historic district, they look at key dates and timeframes important to the founding or creation of that area and what made it evolve. For instance, in Bacova, because of the importance of the lumber company and sawmill, that was a good starting point. They establish a start date and an end date, and then survey every single building that falls within the designated district. They assess whether a building contributes or doesn’t contribute. ‘Contributing’ means it holds significance to that era. Non-contributing structures are built outside the timeframe or are recent additions that don’t contribute to the social fabric.”

In Hot Springs alone, close to 200 buildings were surveyed — photographed, researched, placed in context. Along the way, long-held local stories tend to surface.

“When the research goes to final presentation before approval, people who have lived here their whole lives have lightbulbs go off with these fascinating stories,” Peter said. “In Bacova, we learned that most homes were designed by an architecture firm in Pennsylvania that produced drawings with variations. You find out you might be living in an architect-designed house with Variation A, B, or C — which is very unusual for a small area.”

Preservation gets misunderstood here sometimes. The fear many property owners have is that a historic designation will mean somebody from an office somewhere starts telling them what they can and can’t do with their own property. Peter wanted to clear that up.

“When a building or a district is nominated to become a historic district or property, it’s really about recognition of the importance of the house, the district, or what happened there over time,” he said. “It’s awarding the person or persons applying for recognition the ability to tout that they are of significance. What is often misunderstood is that it does not, in any way, shape, or form, dictate what a person can or cannot do with their property. It’s merely a recognition. It opens the door to potential historic tax credits if you do renovations that fall within guidelines, but there’s no one telling you what to do, what color to paint your front door, or anything like that. It’s really more about recognition that this place holds significance.”

Preservation Bath will also present its annual awards that afternoon. Peter walked through how the board arrives at its selections.

“We talk amongst ourselves, drive around the county, talk to individuals, and open it up to the public for input and suggestions on people, places, or things,” he said. “We take a holistic approach, looking at each nomination unto itself: What did this place or person contribute? What do they mean for the future, and how do we recognize them? Preservation isn’t just about buildings or activists; it’s also about stories and preserving legacies. In the South, word-of-mouth stories and continuing a legacy of knowledge are just as important as a building or a person. So we look at it very holistically.”

None of this is new ground for Peter. His involvement in preservation goes back to his college years — he first joined preservation organizations as a student and has been at the work in one form or another since. He and his husband have personally restored three historic homes. The pull toward old buildings started earlier than that.

“I think a big part of it is just the staying power of beautiful architecture and buildings that were built, unlike today, with such amazing craftsmanship and detail,” Peter said. “As a youngster, I reveled in my aunt’s house. She lived in the Old West End of Toledo in this enormous house — at least enormous to me at the time — that I just couldn’t get enough of. And when I was young, I said to myself, ‘I am going to buy a house in the Old West End, and that is where I’m going to live,’ because these houses have such personality, such character, and such warmth. That kind of started me on my really strong interest in preservation.”

Preservation Bath’s 2026 Annual Lecture and Awards — “Traces on Spaces: Examining Our Historic Districts’ Hidden Stories” — is Sunday, October 11, at 4 p.m., at the Holstein Barn at the Old Dairy, 46 Old Dairy Road, Warm Springs. The lecture is free and open to the public, with a reception to follow.

Listen to our full interview below: