NATCHEZ — National Park Service officials reached out to community stakeholders Tuesday to develop a long-range interpretive plan for the Natchez National Historical Park, comprised of Fort Rosalie, the William Johnson House, Melrose and parts of the Forks of the Road historical site.

Park Superintendent Kathleen Bond said the primary goal of the gathering was to include Natchez’s tourism partners and community leaders in the conversation as the park service develops a new long-term game plan — which hasn’t been done in some 20 years, she said.

“We already know what our park themes are and what our national significance is, but how are we going to make that real for the visitors? What we do to answer that is look at all of our park sites, all of our themes and all of the mediums we could be using and — over a series of workshops between now and Thursday — come up with a tentative plan that may get us 10 years or even further into the future,” Bond said. “We just want to make sure that our most important tourism stakeholders have an opportunity to give their input because we value multiple perspectives.”

Though the National Park Service is still a few strides away from fully acquiring the Natchez Visitor and Reception Center and the area surrounding Forks of the Road, those places weren’t exempt from the discussion during Tuesday’s stakeholder meeting as various groups — including representatives from the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture, Visit Natchez and Friends of the Forks of the Road — tried to imagine the best way to resonate with Natchez visitors.

“Natchez itself is a historical park, not just these places,” said park volunteer Mike Gemmell during Tuesday’s discussion.

One question posed during the discussion was “what is the plan for Forks of the Road site” located on Saint Catherine Street, which is home to what was historically one of the largest slave markets in the nation. Currently, the site provides some informational panels with little else to designate its significance.

National Park Service officials said part of their long-range vision includes acquiring land around Forks of the Road from willing sellers so they would be able to develop the area.

“We have the sites that the city is going to donate where the exhibits are now and around the bridge,” Bond said. “Now we’re looking to identify who the people are that are willing sellers.”