Among the things for which our community should be thankful this holiday season, the National Park Service’s involvement here should be near the top of the list.

The Natchez National Historical Park makes an impact locally in many, many ways.

That can be seen in a very tangible way all over Natchez.

First, the cornerstone of the Natchez National Historical Park, Melrose, continues to be a wonderful site to illustrate with historical accuracy how the Natchez elite lived prior to the Civil War.

Ongoing improvements to the Williams Johnson House — the home of the famous Barber of Natchez — will make that site even more meaningful for visitors.

Those improvements — along with work at Melrose — are estimated to cost approximately $560,000. That’s a huge investment into preserving our area’s history and quite frankly has a big ripple effect on our local economy.

Although it’s been slow in coming, now that the site of Fort Rosalie has begun to be cleared, we can see a bit of the beauty that site will reveal for visitors soon.

Eventually, we hope, the National Park Service’s hand will make the Forks of the Road slave market site equally as prominent for Natchez visitors.

In the meantime, we’re thankful for all the NPS and its local leaders do for the community.