I am writing in response to The Natchez Democrat article published on May 4 titled, “Developers will preserve Forks,” which seems to me to be an untrue and dangerous statement.

The article did not explain how this particular piece of property relates to the historic activities at Forks of the Road, and it left two false impressions: that allowing private citizens to scavenge behind bulldozers is an acceptable way to preserve historical data, and that construction of a modern “shotgun” house for a museum on a nearby lot would somehow mitigate the destruction of archeological information from the development site.

Unlike many of the historic sites in Natchez, the Forks of the Road slave market did not sit on just one discrete piece of land.

After a local ordinance in 1830 forced them to move their stocks of enslaved people outside the city limits, slave traders often would rent shops or houses on a temporary basis that were strung out along the intersection of Liberty Road and St. Catherine Street.

They would stay there only until they sold their supply.

The boundary study undertaken at the impetus of Sen. Thad Cochran for Natchez National Historical Park in 2010 determined that the Forks of the Road site was of national significance and met the criteria for being added to the national park.

Proposed national legislation to allow the addition of the Forks of the Road site to Natchez National Historical Park — along with Melrose, the William Johnson House, and Fort Rosalie — is currently pending.

The small site owned by the City of Natchez at the Forks of the Road was operated by John James.

An archeological survey conducted on this property as part of the NPS boundary study confirmed that most of the archeological resources had been lost to previous development on the site.

Still it recommended that this site and several other nearby sites be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places for the potential historic value of future archeology on the properties.

I would love to provide a copy of this study to the developer.

Across Liberty Road from the city-owned site, the Custom Exteriors and Natchez Exhaust businesses sit on the Franklin Armfield Property, site of the Ballard, Franklin and Armfield stand.

These men were among the most notorious slave traders of the time, ripping apart families of enslaved people in Virginia to send thousands of enslaved people to Natchez and New Orleans.

Then, across St. Catherine Street from the city-owned site sits the site of the Elam slave stand in the 1850s, location today of the First Natchez Radio station and the new planned housing development.

Having nonprofessional people picking up any “artifacts” that are unearthed by bulldozers during the development of the housing complex will still destroy forever the potential for the site to yield any meaningful data to trained archeologists about this tragic aspect of United States history.

To pretend that the pledged “sensitive” use of heavy equipment will lead to “preservation” is ludicrous.

In terms of the archeological resources, subtle clues to where buildings stood or people were housed or buried are more valuable than most things that someone with an untrained eye might pick up from the dirt. And who would own these “artifacts” if any were found?

Will the bulldozers stop if human remains are encountered?

Has the property ever been owned by the city or state?

If so, there would be hope of an archeological intervention prior to development.

Otherwise, is the developer willing to engage in conversation with professional preservation agencies such as the National Park Service, the Mississippi Department of Archives & History or the Historic Natchez Foundation so that real investigation might be planned?

These agencies have access to archeologists and to funds.

Mitigation of permanent damage to the potential archeological resources at the Elam site is still possible, but not through the good intentions of a few interested nonprofessionals to pick up artifacts.

 

Kathleen Jenkins, superintendent

Natchez National Historical Park