Founder of Gray & Pape
Kevin Pape is founder and former President of Gray & Pape Heritage Management and a nationally recognized expert in cultural heritage management with over 40 years of specialized experience in the delivery of cultural heritage services to both public and private clients. Mr. Pape led the firm’s investment in relationship building with Indian Country and helped his clients achieve open and respectful engagement with Indian tribes. He is actively engaged with community revitalization projects and has been recognized for his work in heritage management with awards from multiple SHPO offices, the Department of Energy, and the National Trust. Mr. Pape is a member of Ohio’s World Heritage Steering Committee that manages the UNESCO nomination process for the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. The nomination is a traditional lands acknowledgement of people who are indigenous to this region and has delivered an opportunity and responsibility to engage American Indian Tribal Nations and people today across Ohio. He is a Trustee and former Board Chair of Heritage Ohio and is a former President of the American Cultural Resources Association.
Great Council State Park is being developed near Xenia on the former Shawnee settlement of Old Chillicothe/Oldtown, by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in coordination with the Ohio History Connection, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Absentee Shawnee. The park will feature an interpretive center, designed in the traditional council house form used by Shawnee Tribes, to share the Tribes’ stories that combine past, present, and future. Presenters Talon Silverhorn (Eastern Shawnee/ODNR), Kim Koloski (Ohio History Connection), W. Kevin Pape (Heritage Ohio Trustee) will discuss engagement with the three Shawnee tribes, vision, goals, and process behind the park’s development.