The mandate of the Kentucky Heritage Council is to identify, preserve, and protect the cultural resources of Kentucky. The Council also maintains continually updated inventories of historic structures and archaeological sites and nominates properties to the National Register of Historic Places. By working with other state and federal agencies, local communities, and interested citizens, the Council seeks to build a greater awareness of Kentucky's past and to encourage the long-term preservation of Kentucky's significant cultural resources. Through its various programs the Council strives to show how historic resources contribute to the heritage, economy, and quality of life of all Kentuckians.

For more than 15,000 years, Kentucky was intensively occupied by American Indian groups. The villages, campsites and discarded artifacts of these prehistoric inhabitants may be found throughout the Commonwealth. As one of the early frontier states, Kentucky was a wilderness beyond the Cumberland Gap to be explored and settled in the 18th century. It joined the union in 1792 as the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the nation's 15th state. Tangible reminders of this past are everywhere: in the agricultural region of the Purchase and Pennyrile areas, in the coal mining towns of the eastern and western coal fields, in the urban and industrial centers along the Ohio River, and in the horse farms of the Bluegrass Region.

Since its creation in 1966, the Kentucky Heritage Council has been challenged with the task of preserving this myriad of historic and prehistoric resources. The Council is charged with the "preservation and protection of all meaningful vestiges of Kentucky's heritage for future generations."

The sixteen members of the Council are appointed by the Governor. Council programs are implemented by a staff of professional historians, architectural historians, historic architects, archaeologists and planners. As State Historic Preservation Officer, the Executive Director of the Council directs the federal preservation program in Kentucky including the National Register of Historic Places, Historic Preservation Tax Credits, Section 106 Environmental Review, Certified Local Governments and Preservation Grants-in-Aid. The Council offices are located in Frankfort.