In another national park project, the development of Natchez’ historic Forks of the Road site continues with land acquisitions. Bond said negotiations are underway with Listen Up Y’all Media and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses to buy property they own in that Devereaux Drive-St. Catherine Street area.
A $1 million grant has been provided by the Mellon Foundation for the National Park Service to buy land needed for fully developing the historic area, where the South’s second-largest slave market was located in the 1800s. “So this does really have national and international eyes on it,” Bond said.
Natchez National Historical Park was established in 1988 as the first national park with a mandate to tell the stories of “[B]lacks, both slave and free,” according to a NPS report issued in 2021 when it acquired city-owned parcels for developing the Forks of the Road site.
Congress passed a law in 2017 authorizing establishment of Forks of the Road for preservation, commemoration and interpretation within an 18.5-acre boundary.
Bond did note Tuesday that the Forks of the Road project now faces uncertainties caused by the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funds allocated during the Biden administration. That includes the $24.5 million Natchez was awarded last June by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
However, Gibson expressed optimism that Natchez will get the money that’s being held up in Washington. “We are very confident that it will proceed. We are having good results with friends of ours in D.C. who are very strong advocates for that grant,” he said Tuesday.
While the Trump administration has slashed budgets and laid off federal workers, Natchez National Historical Park has been largely unscathed, Bond said.
“I’m happy to report that our park staff levels are holding stable. A lot of other people are in a world of hurt, but we are doing OK right now,” she said.
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