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Boundary study shows Forks meets NPS criteria
Published Saturday, July 25, 2009
NATCHEZ — The Forks of the Road site is fit for National Park Service ownership.
The findings of the Forks of the Road boundary study conducted by NPS are in, and the site has met the necessary criteria, Natchez National Historical Park Superintendent Kathleen Jenkins said.
Three major criteria make it eligible for NPS ownership — able to be developed for public enjoyment related to the purposes of NPS, feasible to administer and best managed by the NPS.
Two other criteria were on the list, but were not applicable to this situation, both involving buying extra plots of land to develop or make accessible the site.
The boundary study kicked off when Sen. Thad Cochran appropriated approximately $150,000 for the study in 2005.
Jenkins said the actual study did not start rolling until 2006, though.
But three years in the making, Jenkins said the study is still not yet finalized.
She said there are some legal issues that need to be hammered out with the NPS headquarters in Atlanta.
“The review process is sometimes a long process,” she said.
The boundary study has not been intentionally delayed, she said, it’s just taken a while to complete, Jenkins said.
“We’re all very busy people,” Jenkins said. “There has certainly been no intentional stalling.”
City Grants Coordinator Brett Brinegar, who has been working with NPS on the boundary study, said she anticipates at least four more weeks before the study is complete.
“It needs to be finished to the satisfaction of the National Park Service because they’re the ones paying (for the study.),” she said.
After the study is final, the site’s long-term ownership will have to be decided.
When the city was appropriated $1.3 million from the state legislature for overlaying several downtown streets, $500,000 was appropriated for Forks of the Road site development, as well.
But the city failed to apply for the $1.3 million and the $500,000.
Only half of the $1.3 million was recovered, and the $500,000 Forks money is still in limbo.
Brinegar said the city is still working to rectify the situation in order to get the half million dollars.
“We submitted the application,” she said. “We have to do a few more administration things.”
One of which is having the board adopt a resolution to apply for the money, something Brinegar said she will request at the board’s Tuesday meeting.
“We are in the process of getting that money, it’s just a lot of paperwork,” she said.
Jenkins said if the city gets the money, it would be wise for the ownership of the site to remain under the city so those funds can be utilized.
If city officials transfer the property to the NPS, the $500,000 will be nullified, as it’s only for city use.
“In a best case scenario, the city would proceed with some site development using those state funds,” Jenkins said.
After that, NPS could take over the site.
Mayor Jake Middleton said that’s the long-term plan at this point.
But even though the property is city owned, he said both entities are working closely together.
“We want to put something on that piece of property that is pleasing to everyone involved, but yet something that would be agreeable with the National Park Service should, down the road, we deed this over to them,” he said.
The City of Natchez, NPS and the Friends of the Forks of the Road have picked up another partner in the site development — the Tulane Regional Urban Design Center in the School of Architecture. Director Grover Mouton has obtained a $20,000 grant from the National Arts Endowment for site planning and design.
Comments
Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think this development -- if we actually think history matters -- is an important part of who we are here in Natchez.
Just as important -- more important -- to the growth of Natchez than the Grand Village. More telling and truthful than homes tours in it's revelations of what it once meant to be black in our area. And an important part of understanding the true meaning of a lot of the bricks still standing in this town.
Of course if spending the money or avoiding taxes is what primarily matters to you, then it is a waste of time.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Have you noticed the sign near the Forks about the Blue and Black re-enactment in September at the Jeff College? It has black civil war re-enactors and is about the Buffalo Soldiers I believe. I know they had it last year too. So I hope those who are interested in this aspect of our history will attend, it is well worth a few hours of your time.
Posted by rushinghjr (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I see where the "far-Left field is speaking again! Are they really interested in History? same old "Song", just the same ?
Posted by stateofnatchez (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 1:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Until Africa acknowledges ALL aspects of its past involvement with slavery, and acts against the on-going enslavement of its people, how can any call for historical reparation anywhere on earth be taken seriously.
If you are going to educate the people, then start from the beginning instead of archiving a very small portion of American history that is not representative of the complete facts of how the slavery trade was allowed to exist and flourish in the country(s) of its origin.
Short sighted history archiving is how ignorance permeates the truth and will never be a means to bring true resolve to a problem that has been around since the dawn of mans existence.
Posted by rebel4ever (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 10:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think to have the Blue and Black reenactment at Jefferson College is a joke. Why not have it at the bottom of Roth Hill close to where the white Union soldiers kept their black comrades. They were not allowed to stay up on the bluff at Fort McPherson. There is plenty of space at the bottom of the hill for them to set up their little show. If I am not mistaken, Ser-Shesh may be able to help me here, but what did the Buffalo Soldiers ("and is about the Buffalo Soldiers I believe")have to do with anything in Mississippi or Natchez. The Buffalo Soldiers were not formed until Sept. 1866 and these regiments served at a variety of posts in the Southwestern United States (Apache Wars) and Great Plains regions.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on July 26, 2009 at 8:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I used the wrong term rebel. The Buffalo soldiers, as you pointed out, were not formed until after the war. I should have simply said black Union soldiers. And I agree that if you are doing a re-enactment it should be as factual as possible, but that puts the whole confederate pagent and pilgrimage in the same catagory as a joke. I believe most of us agree that it is not a fair representation of the south at that time, because not all us white folks were plantation and slave owners.
Posted by reb1843 (anonymous) on July 27, 2009 at 9:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here's the real story about the brave Nubian warriors of the USCT's. It was common practice during the war to place the least disciplined and ill-trained troops on garrison duty. Such was the case in Natchez, which fell under Union control in May 1862. Among these 'occupation' troops were the 70th and 71st United States Colored Troops (USCTs) and the 6th US Colored Artillery and the 2 Mississippi Heavy Artilllery, another black unit. The 70th and 71st were under command of Col. James T. Organ, a white officer. On 21 Sep 1864, a report issued from Natchez described a "recruitment expedition" to Buck's Ferry on the Homochitto River, thusly, "But little was done in recruiting...Besides, the recruiting officers of the Seventieth and Seventy-first colored regiments showed much more zeal in rummaging houses...and such unsoldierly acts than they did in carrying out the real object...[and]...gathered in 185 head of very fat cattle...from disloyal men and women." This report is contained in the Official Records of the federal government's own publication.
In addition, these same USCT's were involved in October of that same year on a raid on some of my family's property in Sicily Island. I have a copy of the original journal, the participants, the details of what was destroyed and/or stolen. They even took shoes and blankets from the owner's 'servants.' So much for Yankee (black or white) civilization.
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