NATCHEZ — A familiar Natchez landmark may soon become a permanent tribute to the Natchez Tricentennial.

Tourism officials are considering plans to rename the space that includes the historic tollbooth colonnade at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center as the Natchez Tricentennial Park and Gardens.

The colonnade was erected in 1940 as part of the construction of the original Mississippi River bridge. Work has been under way for several months to restore the columns of the colonnade.

Tricentennial Director Jennifer Ogden Combs said discussions about renaming the space and adding improvements have happened between the state tourism department, the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau, the National Park Service and the City of Natchez, who all share space in the visitor center.

Combs said ideas for the park include commemorative benches that can be purchased by sponsors, landscaping, a sponsored brick walkway and non-coin-operated binoculars.

The tricentennial park could also be the perfect spot to bury a time capsule that will be made to mark the tricentennial, Combs said.

Funding for the project, Combs said, would come from sponsorships and any available grants. Combs said the tricentennial office would also partner with organizations such as Keep Mississippi Beautiful and the Adams County Master Gardeners who want to contribute to the park.

Because the bluff has not been stabilized in the area of the colonnade, Combs said, fencing would likely be necessary to ensure the safety of visitors.

One of the goals of the project, CVB Director Kevin Kirby said, would be to connect the visitor center, the colonnade space and Fort Rosalie, which the NPS is working to develop for visitors.

The Fort Rosalie experience will be designed to begin at the visitor center, Natchez National Historical Park Superintendent Kathleen Bond said.

“I’m all for anything that enhances the visitor experience from the visitor center all the way down to Green Street,” she said.

Bond said the NPS may extend its interpretative panels into the colonnade space to encourage visitors to start at the visitor center and walk across the bridge to the fort.

Kirby said a space dedicated to the permanent commemoration of the tricentennial would enhance the legacy of the milestone and all the work being done to celebrate it.

“What better way to commemorate the tricentennial than to create a defined place in the core of the community to have a visual legacy of the tricentennial,” Kirby said.