James C. Thomas, 86, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on historic preservation and

Shaker history, passed away peacefully at his home on Tuesday, November 25 th , 2025, leaving

behind an extraordinary legacy of stewardship, scholarship, and service. For close to five

decades, Jim dedicated his life to preserving Kentucky’s cultural heritage and environs and

shaping national understanding of Shaker communities.

Born on October 27 th , 1939, in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, Jim moved to Louisville with his

family at age 15. He attended the Louisville Country Day School and the University of

Louisville, where his passion for history and architecture grew into a lifelong calling. Alongside

his brother, historian Samuel Thomas, he co-authored The Simple Spirit: A Pictorial Study of the

Shaker Community at Pleasant Hill and was co-author with Stephen Beal of Old Mud Meeting

House, documenting the oldest Low Dutch Reform Church west of the Allegheny Mountains.

He wrote and published articles on log cabins, Shaker architectural design and construction, as

well as Shaker furniture and arts.

Jim began his professional journey as restoration manager at Locust Grove in Louisville, the

home of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark. Under the guidance of acclaimed

architect Walter Macomber, Jim honed the preservation skills that would shape his distinguished career. It was at Locust Grove that Jim met James Lowry Cogar, the first curator of Colonial Williamsburg, who was brought to Locust Grove as a consultant.

Impressed by Jim’s studious mind, attention to detail, aesthetic appreciation, integrity, and hard

work ethic, Cogar, who was hired as President in 1964 by the new Shaker Village of Pleasant

Hill board, invited Jim to join the effort to restore and recreate the derelict Shaker village in

Mercer County, Kentucky. What began as a promising opportunity soon became Jim’s life

calling. Over the next 41 years, he worked his way from curator to vice president, president and

finally CEO, guiding the project’s transformation into the largest and most authentically restored

Shaker village in the United States.

Jim oversaw every aspect of the village’s preservation and operation, including restoration,

interpretation, educational programming, lodging, dining, and management of its 3,000-acre

farm. Under his leadership, Pleasant Hill achieved National Landmark status and became a

national model for preservation excellence. Jim’s meticulous scholarship, his gentle leadership,

and his unwavering commitment to authenticity formed the foundation on which Pleasant Hill

continues to stand.

Throughout his many years at Shaker Village, Jim made numerous friends and acquaintances. He

loved working with people, visitors, staff, scholars, craftsmen, and community members. He

built lifelong relationships through his kindness, his humility, his graciousness, his integrity, and

his passion for history. To many, he was not only a colleague, but a mentor, a guide, and a

cherished friend. Always modest, he would point out that “it took a village” to create something

of lasting value and recognized the contributions of many-from board members, to donors,

craftspeople, to employees right down to those doing the most mundane of tasks- as key to his

successes. “The best of the BEST,” was a standard that that he upheld and an appellation used for

exemplars of excellence.

Jim’s influence reached far beyond Pleasant Hill. He was past president and board member for

both the Harrodsburg Historical Society and the Kentucky Historical Society. He was on the

board and vice chair of the James Haggin Memorial Hospital. He sat on the boards of the

National Trust of Historic Preservation and was appointed vice-chair of the Southern Region,

the Kentucky Heritage Council, the Kentucky Nature Conservancy, the Lincoln Heritage

Foundation, the George Mason Memorial Society, McDowell House, The Kentucky Humanities

Council, The Harrodsburg-Mercer County Landmark Association, The Mercer County Humane Society, The Fort Harrod Drama, and Midway College’s Board of Visitors. He was a life-long member of the Filson Club.

He was a consultant for the Kentucky Department of Parks, The National Endowment for the

Humanities, the Willis Russell Black Historical Society, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers, the

American for State and Local History in Nashville, and the Keeneland Foundation. He served on

the Council for Community Development in Harrodsburg. Upon retirement from Shakertown, he started Jim Thomas Consulting to further preservation efforts and projects across the state. His achievements were recognized with numerous awards, including the Ida B. Willis Award

for Excellence in the Preservation of Cultural Resources (1998), the John Wesley Hunt

Award (1999), and the Jane Bird Hutton Award (2003) for his outstanding contributions to

cultural preservation.

In recognition of his lifetime of service, the Shaker Village Board of Trustees named Jim

“President Emeritus for Life” in 2025, honoring his enduring impact and the deep respect he

earned throughout the preservation community.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Jim was a man of intellectual curiosity with a

profound love of learning. He read constantly and collected books on Kentucky. He possessed an

extraordinary memory and could recite historical dates, events, and stories with remarkable

clarity, often astonishing friends and family with the breadth of his knowledge. He loved horses,

dogs, and the outdoors, finding peace in the rolling Kentucky landscape that had become both his

home and his life’s work. Jim cherished spending time with his family. Whether sharing meals,

working outdoors, or simply enjoying peaceful evenings at home, he valued these moments

deeply. Jim and his beloved wife, Susanna made their home in a carefully reconstructed double-

pen log cabin dating to around 1800, which Jim rebuilt after relocating it to their farm near

Pleasant Hill in 1967.

Jim was a man of unwavering faith and a member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in

Harrodsburg, where he found fellowship, spiritual grounding, and a community he cherished.

He was preceded in death by his cherished parents and by his beloved brother, Sam. Jim is

survived by his devoted wife, Susanna; his sons Ian (Elaine) Thomas and Mason Thomas; his

treasured grandson, James True Thomas; and his sister-in-law, Debbie Thomas. He also leaves

behind many extended family members, lifelong friends, colleagues, and the countless people

whose lives he touched.

Jim will be remembered not only as a preservationist, historian, and visionary leader, but as a

gentle, thoughtful, and devoted husband, father, brother, grandfather, and friend. His life

enriched countless people, communities, and historic places. His legacy endures in the stories he

preserved, the landscapes he protected, and the family he loved so deeply.

May Jim Thomas, who was most certainly “the best of the Best,” rest in peace.

There will be a celebration of his life on December 14 th , 2025, at 3pm in the Meeting House at Shaker Village

of Pleasant Hill. “Those wishing to honor Jim Thomas’ memory may make a donation to Shaker Village of Pleasant

Hill at: https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/IThbXQ?vid=1n799n