NATCHEZ — Officials said they are closer to completing an ownership transfer of the Natchez Visitor and Reception Center from the City of Natchez to the National Park Service.

Kathleen Bond, director on Natchez National Historical Park, said during Tuesday’s finance meeting that the park service now has all of the documents needed from the city to complete the transfer, which should close by next spring.

Bond said there are a few remaining steps to finish the transfer that are now in the hands of the National Park Service, including a land survey conducted by the firm Jordan Kaiser and Sessions, title work, an environmental site assessment and lastly signing off on closing documents.

Bond said there are also several new developments in the works at Natchez National Historical Park’s existing sites.

“Mimi Miller has been working on a report at one of our slave cabins for a couple of years,” Bond said. “What she has done is dig up some amazing information about the individuals who were enslaved at the Melrose property. It will give us the opportunity to go beyond any other place in town in telling the details of these individuals’ lives, and we are very excited about that.”

Another exciting new feature is now hanging at the William Johnson House, Bond said. An original barbershop mirror that belonged to Johnson had been purchased from his descendants and refurbished to give visitors a glimpse of what it’s like to be inside of Johnson’s barbershop.

“This is one of the finest mirrors in Natchez and it hung in his barbershop on Main Street,” Bond said.

Three sidewalk wayside panels and a new map exhibit at the visitor’s center will also give tourists a chance to read bits of French history — presented in both English and French languages, Bond said.

“They tell a French story and will be great for our French-speaking visitors as well as our French-learning school children,” Bond said.