Congratulations to Natchez for its recent honors awarded by the Mississippi Historical Society.

The group recently presented awards of merit to a few local residents and the Natchez National Historical Park for their collective work in celebrating last year’s Natchez Tricentennial.

Former Natchez Mayor Butch Brown, Tricentennial Director Jennifer Ogden Combs, Tricentennial Chairman Stratton Bull and the Natchez National Historical Park’s staff were all honored last weekend in a ceremony on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Although not listed by name, countless others also played a significant part in the celebration, including Jeff Mansell with the National Park Service, who undertook a tremendous effort to create the Natchez History Minute project.

Elbert Hilliard, secretary-treasurer of the Mississippi Historical Society, summed up the honor.

“I’ve been associated with the Department of Archives and History since July 1965, and I don’t think I can recall any municipality doing anything that measured up to what Natchez has done to celebrate its tricentennial.”

Combs eloquently summed up her feelings about the honor.

“Certainly it is an honor not for me, but for the entire city, for every volunteer. … It belongs to everybody. Any notoriety is a testament to the community and the people who got involved, the people who attended and who gave so much time. It’s really about them.”

Well said.

We hope that spirit of “we work as a team, Team Natchez” is one that remains for many, many years to come.