🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Natchez National Historical Park

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Mississippi is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Mississippi’s important historical places: Natchez National Historical Park, which preserves and interprets the history, culture, and architecture of the Natchez area.

“Natchez National Historical Park tells the story of Natchez in the American South. The park protects the sites and structures associated with the peoples of Natchez and its surrounding area from earliest inhabitants to the modern era. The name Natchez is derived from the “Natchez” American Indians who inhabited the area at the time of European exploration. The historic sites maintained by the park, and the surrounding preservation district, give visitors an opportunity to understand the region’s social, political, and economic development, particularly in the pre-and-post Civil War eras. They also provide insights into the region’s commercial and agricultural history, especially in relation to the Mississippi River, slavery, and cotton.”

The park is composed of five NPS owned properties: Forks of the Road, Fort Rosalie, Melrose, the William Johnson House, the Natchez Visitor Center, and a larger area known as the preservation district.

Constructed in the 1840s, the suburban estate, Melrose, was built by a wealthy attorney and cotton planter and was home to his family and 22 enslaved people who lived and worked there. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the main house on the estate has been called “One of the Great Houses of the American South.” The estate is recognized not only for the high quality and finishes of the Greek Revival mansion and intact grouping of outbuildings, but also for the collection of 19th century original furnishings that have been well maintained and preserved over the years.

William Johnson, known as “The Barber of Natchez,” was born into slavery but was freed at the age of 11. Johnson eventually owned several barber shops, rental property, a farm, and timberland but his greatest contribution may very well be his lengthy personal and business diary that offers a glimpse of antebellum southern life and relations between whites and non-enslaved blacks. William Johnson’s townhouse is in downtown Natchez.

Established by the French among the Natchez people on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in 1716, Fort Rosalie was intended to guarantee control of the largest and most navigable river in North America. The fort anchored a European settlement that survived three different periods of European rule over the course of the 1700s (French, British, and Spanish) and developed into the capital of the Mississippi Territory under United States governance at the end that century. The settlement coalesced into the town of Natchez, and the territory into the state of Mississippi in 1817. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the Park’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the webpage for Natchez National Historical Park from the National Park Service, and also on the Park’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What American treasures are you and your students exploring in your homeschool this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a great long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛️

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨️

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓️

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