HYDE-SMITH RESUMES QUEST TO LINK NATCHEZ HISTORICAL SITES TO NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Hyde-Smith Reintroduces the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and Jefferson College Affiliated Areas Establishment Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today reintroduced her legislation to designate the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians in Adams County as an affiliated area of the National Park Service (NPS).
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and Jefferson College Affiliated Areas Establishment Act would make the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians eligible for preservation, protection, and interpretation resources as an affiliate area of the Natchez National Historical Park. It would also direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish Jefferson College in Natchez as an affiliated area once the Secretary determines it meets the necessary criteria.
“Natchez and Adams County have made strides in working to preserve and highlight the significance of its long history, a centuries-long story that is central to Mississippi’s history. This legislation supports that effort, and I am committed to seeing it enacted,” Hyde-Smith said. “Making the Grand Village and Jefferson College affiliated areas of the National Park Service would make more resources and technical assistance available to them.”
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that approved this legislation late in the 118th Congress, which ended before it could pass through the full Senate and House of Representatives to be enacted.
The NPS has assessed the eligibility of the two Mississippi sites to be affiliated areas, which the NPS defines as locations that “preserve significant properties outside the National Park System ... [and that] draw on technical or financial aid from the National Park Service. Upon a successful determination, this bill would then codify that decision.”
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is listed as a National Historic Landmark and interprets the story of the Natchez people and their ancestors who inhabited what is now southwest Mississippi from around 700 to 1730.
Jefferson College, founded in 1802 and recognized as the birthplace of Mississippi’s statehood, is the state’s first institution of higher learning, and served as a Freedmen’s Bureau site after the Civil War. The school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hyde-Smith legislation, which is cosponsored by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), would direct the NPS to set the boundaries of the affiliated areas and develop a management plan for each within three years. In cooperation with the NPS, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History would be the management entity that would work with Grand Village and, eventually, Jefferson College for preservation, interpretation, and marketing.
The bill does not allow the NPS to acquire property in the affiliate areas or to assume responsibility for their operation, maintenance, or management.
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