COMPREHENSIVE CONCEPT: STORIES OF THE DELTA

GOAL RESOURCES

The goal of this concept is to illustrate the Resources would be drawn from across the interrelationships between the “Stories of the region and would illustrate the interrelation- Delta” and the historic sites, museums, ships between people, places, and events in the festivals, and natural areas that could be Delta. Emphasis would be placed on utilizing organized to preserve, protect, and present to existing resources and criteria for choosing visitors the rich and diverse natural and appropriate sites and resources would need to cultural heritage of the Delta. be developed. Criteria for selecting sites and resources might be related to specific site characteristics. These characteristics might IMPORTANCE/SIGNIFICANCE include the significance of the site/resource , the site/resource’s relationship to a specific The “Stories of the Delta” — the people, “Story of the Delta,” the existence of a visitor- places, and events that bring this region of the ready facility, present and potential country to national attention — form a interpretive opportunities, access to the complex yet cohesive picture of the Delta’s region’s major transportation arteries, and natural, cultural, historic, and ancient proximity to other sites/resources related to the resources. These are the stories or themes “Stories of the Delta.” related to the Delta that visitors and residents alike should understand in order to appreciate As stated earlier, the resources presented in the impact this region has had on the formation this comprehensive concept are not the only of our national character. These stories resources that could be considered in this combined with the appropriate historic sites, configuration. The listed resources represent a museums, festivals, and natural areas form the cross section of the sites, museums, festival base from which historic preservation, heritage locations, and natural areas that could be used tourism, and economic revitalization efforts to illustrate the interrelationships between the could be initiated. “Stories of the Delta” and the resources available to tell those stories.

17 RESOURCES Cajun Culture 18. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (, THE RIVER AND THE ENVIRONMENT Louisiana)  Prairie Acadian Cultural Center (Eunice, Louisiana) River Towns  Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center (Lafayette, Louisiana) 1. Ste. Genevieve, Missouri  Acadian Cultural Center (Lafayette, Louisiana) 2. Cairo, 19. Acadiana Visitor Center (Opelousas, Louisiana) 3. Memphis, 4. Hickman, Creole Culture 5. Helena, Arkansas 20. Natchitoches Historic District, Badin-Roque House (Natchitoches, 6. Vicksburg, Louisiana) 7. New Orleans, Louisiana 21. Kate Chopin House and Bayou Folk Museum (Cloutierville, Geophysical Transformation Louisiana) 8. Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee 42. Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Cane River National 9. Crowley’s Ridge , Arkansas Heritage Area (Natchitoches, Louisiana)

Manipulating the River for Navigation and Flood Control African-American Culture • The mainline levee system extends along both banks of the 22. Bayou, Mississippi from approximately Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 23. Helena Cultural Center (Helena, Arkansas) to the , except where tributaries intersect the river 24. Floyd Brown-Fargo Agricultural School Museum (Fargo, Arkansas) and high ground parallels it. The levees along the south banks of 25. Madison, Arkansas the Arkansas River and the Red Rivers in the Atchafalaya Basin. 26. Cairo, Illinois • The Little River Drainage District of Southeast Missouri, from 27. Beale Street Historic District (Memphis, Tennessee) Cape Girardeau, Missouri southward to the Missouri-Arkansas 28. Delta Museum (Clarksdale, Mississippi) state line 29. China Grove Plantation (Natchez, Mississippi) • Floodways to divert excess flows: 30. Woodville Historical Museum, William Grant Still (Woodville, 10. Birds Point to New Madrid, Missouri floodway Mississippi) 11. Morganza and West Atchafalaya floodways in Louisiana 31. Lehman Store Building, Historic Donaldsonville Museum 12. Bonnet Carre Spillway upstream of New Orleans Donaldsonville, Louisiana) 13. Waterways Experiment Station Visitor Center (principal research 32. River Road African American Museum (Arrow, Louisiana) and testing laboratory of the Corps of Engineers) Vicksburg, 33. Melrose Plantation (Melrose, Louisiana) Mississippi 34. New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (New Orleans, Louisiana) 46. Huxtable Pumping Station (Marianna, Arkansas) 41. Arna Bontemps African American Museum (Lafayette, Louisiana) 44. William Johnson House, Natchez National Historical Park (Natchez, Natural Resources Mississippi) 14. Little Grand Canyon Area (Carbondale, Illinois) 48. Delta Studies Center, ASU (Jonesboro, Arkansas) 15. Henderson Sloughs (Uniontown, Kentucky) 16. White River Sugarberry Natural Area, White River National Wildlife Other Cultural Influences Refuge (Helena, Arkansas) 35. Ozark Folk Center (Mountain View, Arkansas) 17. Louisiana Purchase State Park (between Brinkley and Marvel, 36. Adsmore Living History Museum (Princeton, Kentucky) Arkansas) 37. American Italian Museum and Library (New Orleans, Louisiana) 18. , Green Ash, Overcup Oak, and Sweetgum 38. Saxon Lutheran Memorial (Frohna, Missouri) Research National Areas (Yazoo City, Mississippi) 39. Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (Utica, Mississippi) 19. Delta (Venice, Louisiana) 40. Buchanan Street Historic District (Hickman, Kentucky)

DELTA CULTURES AND CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCES 1-8 Civil War Sites American Indian 1. Shiloh (Shiloh, Tennessee)  of Tears National Historic Trail (Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, 2. Corinth, Mississippi Arkansas, Mississippi 3. Fort Pillow State Historic Area (Fulton, Tennessee)  Parkway (Mississippi, , Tennessee) 4. Columbus-Belmont Battlefield State Park (Columbus, Kentucky) 1. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (Philadelphia, Mississippi) 5. Vicksburg National Military Park (Vicksburg, Mississippi) 2. Indian Village (Memphis, Tennessee) 6. Port Gibson, Mississippi 3. Arkansas Post National Memorial, Menard/Hodges Archeological Site 7. Jackson, Mississippi (Gillett, Arkansas) 8. Pea Ridge National Military Park (Pea Ridge, Arkansas) 4. Pinson State Archeological Site (Pinson, Tennessee) 9. National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, Tennessee) 5. Winterville Mounds State Park and Museum (Washington County, 10. Farish Street Historic District (Jackson, Mississippi) Mississippi 11. Little Rock Central High School (Little Rock, Arkansas) 6. Marksville State Commemorative Area (Marksville, Louisiana) 12. Southern Tenant Farmers Union (Marked Tree, Arkansas, and 7. Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana (Marksville, Louisiana) Memphis, Tennessee) 8. Coushatta Tribe (Elton, Louisiana) 9. The Chitimacha Tribe (Charenton, Louisiana) THE DELTA AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY 10. Jena Band of Choctaw (Jena, Louisiana)  River Transportation and River Towns throughout the Mississippi 43. Grand Village of the Natchez (Natchez, Mississippi) River System 45. Wickliffe Mounds (Wickliffe, Kentucky) 1. Consolidated Grain and Barge Company (Mound City, Illinois) 47. Arkansas State University Museum (Jonesboro, Arkansas) 2. Stuttgart Agricultural Museum (Stuttgart, Arkansas) 3. The Homeplace - 1850 (Golden Pond, Kentucky) French and Spanish Influences 4. Cottonlandia Museum (Greenwood, Mississippi) 11. State Park (Rosedale, Mississippi) 5. Fargo Agricultural School Museum (Fargo, Arkansas) 12. Arkansas Post National Memorial (Gillett, Arkansas) 6. LSU Rural Life Museum (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) 13. Parkin Archeological State Park (Parkin, Arkansas) 7. Louisiana Forestry Museum/Political Museum and Hall of Fame 14. French Colonial Historic District (Prairie Du Rocher, Illinois) (Winnfield, Louisiana) 15. Cape Girardeau River Heritage Museum (Cape Girardeau, Missouri) 8. Cotton Row Walking Tour (Memphis, Tennessee) 16. Historic Ste. Genevieve (Ste. Genevieve, Missouri) 9. Arkansas Oil and Brine Museum (Smackover, Arkansas) 17. Vieux Carre Historic District (New Orleans, Louisiana) EAST ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS SOURI RI IS VE M R ILLINOIS INDIANA MISSOURI 14 16 CHESTER STE. HARRISBURG GENEVIEVE 1 UNIONTOWN

ROLLA 38 15 HANSON FROHNA CARBONDALE KY ALTENBURG

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MONROE MERIDIAN 20 6 VICKSBURG SHREVEPORT 7 20 TEXAS 10 5 10 JACKSON 13 UTICA LOUISIANA 39 49 20 NATCHITOCHES 6 R21 E 7 VIDALIA 33 D R NATCHEZ 42I V 55 E 29 R 43 HATTIESBURG 44 ALEXANDRIA 6 30 59 7 WOODVILLE FL MARKSVILLE 11 61

BAKER BILOXI OPELOUSAS GULFPORT

ELTON A 8 19 T 6 12 C PASCAGOULA EUNICE H BATON A ROUGE F A 0 30 60 MILES 10 41 L A 34 Y 32 LAFAYETTE 12 18 DSC • MRDR • 20138 • FEB 98 A 31 7 17 R 37 I NEW V E ORLEANS THE RIVER AND 9 R THE ENVIRONMENT 19 CHARENTON DELTA CULTURES AND CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS

THE DELTA AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCES CCOMPREHENSIVE ONCEPT NATCHEZ TRACE STORIES OF THE DELTA HSERITAGE TUDY NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL