Completed Historic Context Study for Great River Road (October 2024)

The National Park Service (NPS) launched the Historic Context Study of Great River Road in the summer of 2023 in response to a request to nominate an eleven-mile stretch of the area as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). Completed by HHM & Associates, the study holistically documents the area's integrity and significance. The effort involved research, a field survey, photographic documentation, Geographic Information Systems analysis, and public engagement. The historic context study, which provides the research needed to evaluate the NHL eligibility, finds that the area is a good candidate for consideration as an NHL.

Great River Road appears to meet NHL Criterion 1, in the areas of agriculture, ethnic heritage, and social history as an outstanding example of:

• The noteworthy settlement patterns and architecture established during the period of French settlement, 1718- 1803, with the introduction and maintenance of the arpent system and visibility of historic concession boundaries in the landscape as well as persistence of Creole forms and practices of architecture and building.

• The importance of the district's sugar production to the national economy, especially in the Reconstruction Era.

• The notable transition of enslaved laborers to wage laborer and landholders in the Reconstruction Era and into the twentieth century, illustrating an alternative narrative to the stories of the Great Migration and sharecropping.

• The exceptional ethnic heritage forged by the families that chose to live in this district for generations - creating distinct and nationally influential cultural practices relevant to architecture, craft, music, and foodways.

• The exceptional integrity of the agricultural landscape - having grown sugar in the same location and using many of the same methods and structures for nearly 300 years - creating a rare and unusual setting and sense of the feeling of living and working in the plantation system in the American South.

Additionally, Great River Road appears to meet NHL Criterion 5, as a collection of buildings, structures and landscape features. The area is multi-layered and complex having a rich history spanning three centuries of land use by many cultures including postbellum descendant communities. Therefore, the Study authors recommend several avenues of future documentation, research, and analysis that may illustrate patterns and historic trends to further support an argument for national significance.

Please contact Alesha Cerny, Archeological and Historic Preservation Partnerships at Alesha_Cerny@nps.gov with any questions or for additional information.

Document Content:

Great River Road Study Final_202410.pdf   (75.4 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.