Green Hill Cemetery restoration project receives $11K donation from Buffalo Trace Distillery

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WAVE) - Buffalo Trace Distillery rebranded its root beer for a good cause.

The drink, now called Freddie’s Root Beer, is named after the facility’s tour guide, Freddie Johnson.

Johnson’s nonprofit Freddie’s Historical Restoration Project received a percentage of the money made from each case sold.

Tuesday, he was presented with a check for $11,872, which will go toward restoring Green Hill Cemetery in Frankfort.

Green Hill Cemetery was established in 1865 and features the only monument to Kentucky’s United States Colored Troops (USCTs), which included approximately 25,000 men.

The 10-foot-tall monument names more than 140 USCT members from Frankfort and surrounding central Kentucky communities.

The cemetery is run by a volunteer board and has been in need of some more love in several years, so it was Johnson’s idea to use the proceeds from the soda sales to help restore Green Hill.

Johnson has been involved with the cemetery for years, and even has family buried there.

He said he hopes the money will help make the location a place for visitors to stop by and pay their respects.

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