NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Natchez Visitor Center is expected to reopen in late 2026 after the National Park Service completes refurbishing it.
Now part of the Natchez National Historical Park, the formerly city-owned facility closed in 2023 for extensive renovations. At a cost of more than $6 million, the ongoing project includes about $4.5 million for installing a new air-conditioning unit, $500,000 for new roofing and more than $1 million redoing the interior, said NNHP Superintendent Kathleen Bond.
Meeting Tuesday with Natchez aldermen and Mayor Dan Gibson, Bond said interior remodeling will include new reception counters, new exhibits, a Natchez film for tourists to view and relocating the gift shop/bookstore closer to the building’s front.
“They’re not big changes because you can’t do big changes for the amount of money we’ve got,” Bond said.
She noted the visitor center’s glass-walled skywalk overlooking the bayou and Mississippi River might have to be removed because of ground erosion problems.
The Natchez Visitor Center’s planned reopening next year is to coincide with the United States Semiquincentennial, which marks the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen in 2020 donated the 1998-built structure to the National Park Service to relieve the city from the financial burdens of maintaining the facility by the Mississippi River bridges.
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