NPS - National Park Service

10/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/25/2024 12:05

National Park Service releases study to aid evaluation of National Historic Landmark eligibility for Great River Road

News Release Date:
October 25, 2024

Contact: Southeast Regional Communications, National Park Service

ATLANTA - The National Park Service (NPS) published today a historic context study of an eleven-mile stretch of the Great River Road along the west-bank of the Mississippi River located in west St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. The NPS launched the Historic Context Study of Great River Roadin the summer of 2023 in response to a request to nominate the area as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). 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.

Louisiana's Historic River Road contains sites associated with the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail and is part of the larger Great River Road National Scenic Byway, which follows the course of the Mississippi River for roughly 3,000 miles from Northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The eleven-mile section identified for this effort is already part of the State-certified River Road Cultural District and the local Parish-designated River Road Historic District.

The final study holistically documents the area's integrity and significance. Most importantly, at least 90 percent of the landscape within the study area contributes to setting and feeling, with the massive presence of the Mississippi River and thousands of acres of continuously farmed agricultural land counterbalancing pockets of new development. Approximately 682 (60%) individual resources out of 1,121 known resources within the study area were collectively determined to illustrate nationally significant history, including:

  • The unique 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 unique 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 unique setting and sense of the feeling of living and working in the plantation system in the American South.
The public may learn more about the Great River Road historic context study by visiting https://parkplanning.nps.gov/RiverRoad.

National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places that have exceptional abilities to illustrate and interpret American cultural heritage. The National Historic Landmarks Program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior and is responsible for helping to preserve and protect the just over 2,600 NHLs in the United States. The agency works with preservation officials, private property owners, and other partners interested in nominating properties for National Historic Landmark designation.