AUGUSTA — Augusta College Echo Hall Association hosted Bourbon, Barbecue and Bluegrass, a benefit event to raise money for the Echo Hall Dormitory Saturday evening at the Clooney Center in Augusta.
ACEHA President Carol Williams said Echo Hall belongs to the first Methodist College in the world, Augusta College. Built around 1830, this dormitory now stands as the only remnant of the college today, with ACEHA determined to keep it that way.
“The structure is fairly stable, and we have set out on a capital campaign to raise money to redevelop it for community and public use, for meetings, receptions, small workshops, conferences, stuff like that,” Williams said.
The building had fallen into disrepair after the 1997 Ohio River flood including the partial collapse of a back wall. It was slated for demolition until a group interested in saving the site stepped in, hoping to restore the structure. Working with the Kentucky Trust for Historic Preservation, the current owner agreed to sell the property to the group rather than demolish it.
The building was purchased by the Augusta College Echo Hall Association in October 2017 in order to save it from demolition and re-purpose the building.
At the time, then ACEHA President Caroline Miller said the building may be the oldest standing Methodist building in the state.
As the name of this Saturday event suggests, guests were treated to a cash bar of bourbon and wine, many of which were from local wineries and distilleries. Catering was provided by Staci Jett, contestant of Travel Channel’s “American Grilled.”
While guests enjoyed the food and spirits, Bluegrass music, provided by Pat Feagan and Brandi Courtney, accented the event. An auction took place later on in the evening, where guests could try their hand in bidding for a number of premium bourbons.
Williams said that ACEHA board member Mary Ann Kearns came up with the idea for the event during one of the association’s fall 2018 meetings, and since then has been working toward making the event a reality.
When Kearns sought support from the community to bring the event into being, she said she found a great deal of people willing to help out, even a number of anonymous individuals who donated spirits to put up for auction.
“I think that people realize that this is an important historic structure that we’re trying to save; and people in Augusta tend to be pretty generous when it comes to preserving their history, and so we just asked — we just asked — and they came through,” she said.
Terry Thompson, with his wife Mona, travelled from Ashland to Bourbon, Barbecue and Bluegrass after their friends Doug and Angie Calland from Maysville, told them about the event. He said he has a lot of respect for the Augusta community to take it upon themselves to pursue this project and to restore such a historical building.
“It’s a great way to raise money for a great cause,” he said. “So congratulations to the community by stepping up to save a historical piece of property that affected a lot of lives I’m sure along the way. Good for them.”
Through all of the nervous days, wondering whether or not people would even show up to this event, seeing the end result and seeing people more than willing to support this cause, made a happy moment for Kearns.
“I just told Staci, who is doing the catering, I said, ‘when you’re in a place and you see people talking really loud, you know they’re having a good time,’ so that makes me feel good,” she said.
Likewise, Williams said a great deal of the progress that ACEHA makes toward their cause is dependent upon the generosity of the community.
“We can’t do it without community support,” Williams said. “We are a grassroots organization, we have grassroots support, but we also have foundation support from outside of the area and other sponsors and folks donating, but 90 percent of what went into this evening is all grassroots, local support.”
