On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the public is invited to attend a donation ceremony at the piece of the Forks of the Road Slave Market site that is currently owned and interpreted by the City of Natchez.

In the event of rain, the ceremony will be moved to the Natchez Visitor Reception Center.

Clarence Chapman of Chartre Companies will officially hand over to the City of Natchez the deed to another nearby parcel of land located down at the intersection of Concord Avenue and D’Evereux Drive.

Over this piece of lands runs an abandoned remnant of the Old Washington Road with a small arched brick bridge, now covered in kudzu, that spans the headwaters of Spanish Bayou.

This historic road location, even more than the brick bridge itself (whose exact age has not yet been determined), is one of the few tangible resources remaining that can be directly tied to the Forks of the Road. Down this road thousands of enslaved people entered Natchez after being forced to march from Virginia between 1833 and 1863 via overland routes like the Natchez Trace.

Today much of the historic Forks of the Road site lies obliterated beneath the modern imprints of high-power lines, radio towers, four-lane highways, retail establishments, and public housing units – including more than two dozen units of Chartre’s recently constructed Old Bridge Place development.

When Chartre first purchased the acreage for development more than a decade ago, there was no widespread local knowledge of the historic importance of the Forks of the Road.

It is a sign of changing times in Natchez, and a testimony to the unceasing efforts of Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-CM Boxley and the Friends of the Forks of the Road Society, that the level of awareness continues to be raised of the importance of preserving the Forks of the Road site and telling the truth about the horrific stories of human trafficking that underlay the antebellum Natchez economy and the world of the beautiful houses on which the modern tourism industry has been based.

Now the Forks of the Road site has been recognized by the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network-to-Freedom program and as part of the international slave route project undertaken by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Now it has also been placed under the review protection of the Natchez Historic Preservation Commission.

A Boundary Study completed in 2010 found that the Forks of the Road slave market site meets the national significance criteria to be added to Natchez National Historical Park – along with Melrose, the William Johnson House, and Fort Rosalie – but Congress must first pass authorizing legislation that would allow the park to own land there.

“The draft legislation that has been drawn up defines an 18-acre historic district at the Forks of the Road site, much of which would not be eligible for NPS ownership in the near future, but would be at least initially interpreted through partnerships,” said Kathleen Jenkins.

 

Kathleen Jenkins is superintendent of Natchez National Historical Park.