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Develop Concept Plan for the Forks of the Road Slave Market Site in Natchez National Historical Park
Natchez National Historical Park » Develop Concept Plan for the Forks of the Road Slave Market Site in Natchez National Historical Park » Document List
Natchez National Historical Park is developing a Concept Plan for the for the Forks of the Road Slave Market site in Natchez, Mississippi. The National Park Service is pleased to welcome public support and participation in this planning process.
The Forks of the Road site is the location of the second busiest slave trading market in the Deep South. Natchez was the epicenter of American capitalism in the mid-19th century with the trading of the world's three greatest commodities - land, cotton, and enslaved people of African descent. With the invention of the cotton gin and an ever-expanding steamboat transportation network, Natchez created an economy centered around slave labor-generated cotton. Prior to the establishment of the market, slave trading was a common sight on almost every street corner in the city. In 1832, however, the fear of a cholera epidemic caused municipal officials to force human traffickers outside the city limits. Traders set up business at the Forks of the Road, at the intersection of what is today known as Liberty Road and D'Evereux Drive, one mile east of downtown Natchez at the terminus of the Natchez Trace. Tens of thousands of enslaved men, women and children were transported from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and the Carolinas to the market at Natchez. The slave market operated from 1833 until the arrival of Federal troops during the Civil War on July 13, 1863. More information about the Forks of the Road Site and Natchez National Historical Park is available under the "Links" tab to the left.
The Forks of the Road site was recently included within the national park as a result of a community-led preservation effort following more than a century of neglect and urban intrusion. The City of Natchez worked with the NPS to complete a Boundary Adjustment Study for the site in 2009, which led to an 18-acre expansion of Natchez National Historical Park's authorized boundary in 2017 to include the site. As a new unit of the park, Forks of the Road was not anticipated by the park's General Management Plan and lacks management guidance for the preservation of resources, development, and a plan for appropriate visitor experience at the site. The Concept Plan for the for the Forks of the Road Slave Market is intended to provide guidance on future development and the treatment of landscape features (including plans for existing structures, archeological resources, and ethnographic resources), define the visitor experience, establish guidelines for commemoration and interpretation at the site, and address visitor access and circulation.
The National Park Service kicked off this effort with several public listening sessions during which the planning team gathered feedback from the community on visioning for the future of the site. For those who were unable to attend meetings in Natchez or virtually, there is more information and an opportunity to share written comments directly with the planning team available by clicking "Open for Comment" on left menu bar and selecting "Preliminary Civic Engagement Information."
To ensure the planning team has the opportunity to consider your ideas during the initial phase of this planning effort, please submit your comments by December 31, 2024. Additional opportunities for commenting and public engagement will be offered throughout the life of the planning effort. Preliminary concept plans developed as a result of feedback from this initial civic engagement effort will be shared with the public in 2025.
Thank you for your interest in Natchez National Historical Park and its future. If you wish to receive regular updates on this plan's progress, consider sharing your contact information via the mailing list found under the "Links" tab.
The Forks of the Road site is the location of the second busiest slave trading market in the Deep South. Natchez was the epicenter of American capitalism in the mid-19th century with the trading of the world's three greatest commodities - land, cotton, and enslaved people of African descent. With the invention of the cotton gin and an ever-expanding steamboat transportation network, Natchez created an economy centered around slave labor-generated cotton. Prior to the establishment of the market, slave trading was a common sight on almost every street corner in the city. In 1832, however, the fear of a cholera epidemic caused municipal officials to force human traffickers outside the city limits. Traders set up business at the Forks of the Road, at the intersection of what is today known as Liberty Road and D'Evereux Drive, one mile east of downtown Natchez at the terminus of the Natchez Trace. Tens of thousands of enslaved men, women and children were transported from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and the Carolinas to the market at Natchez. The slave market operated from 1833 until the arrival of Federal troops during the Civil War on July 13, 1863. More information about the Forks of the Road Site and Natchez National Historical Park is available under the "Links" tab to the left.
The Forks of the Road site was recently included within the national park as a result of a community-led preservation effort following more than a century of neglect and urban intrusion. The City of Natchez worked with the NPS to complete a Boundary Adjustment Study for the site in 2009, which led to an 18-acre expansion of Natchez National Historical Park's authorized boundary in 2017 to include the site. As a new unit of the park, Forks of the Road was not anticipated by the park's General Management Plan and lacks management guidance for the preservation of resources, development, and a plan for appropriate visitor experience at the site. The Concept Plan for the for the Forks of the Road Slave Market is intended to provide guidance on future development and the treatment of landscape features (including plans for existing structures, archeological resources, and ethnographic resources), define the visitor experience, establish guidelines for commemoration and interpretation at the site, and address visitor access and circulation.
The National Park Service kicked off this effort with several public listening sessions during which the planning team gathered feedback from the community on visioning for the future of the site. For those who were unable to attend meetings in Natchez or virtually, there is more information and an opportunity to share written comments directly with the planning team available by clicking "Open for Comment" on left menu bar and selecting "Preliminary Civic Engagement Information."
To ensure the planning team has the opportunity to consider your ideas during the initial phase of this planning effort, please submit your comments by December 31, 2024. Additional opportunities for commenting and public engagement will be offered throughout the life of the planning effort. Preliminary concept plans developed as a result of feedback from this initial civic engagement effort will be shared with the public in 2025.
Thank you for your interest in Natchez National Historical Park and its future. If you wish to receive regular updates on this plan's progress, consider sharing your contact information via the mailing list found under the "Links" tab.