Mississippi Heritage Trust Award

FOR Receives Coveted Mississippi Heritage Trust Award

MHT Executive Director David Preziosi presents the award to Friends of Raymond President, Parker Hills

Friends of Raymond (FOR) was awarded the Mississippi Heritage Trust Award for Excellence in the Stewardship of Historic Sites, an award which recognizes sustained excellence in the preservation, management, and interpretation of one or more historic sites. Receiving the award on behalf of FOR at the Heritage Awards Luncheon and Ceremony at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS, on April 21 was FOR Board President, Parker Hills.

FOR, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, was organized to preserve, interpret, manage, and promote significant historic sites in Raymond, Mississippi, and the surrounding area. FOR is managed by a volunteer board of nine members, elected each January by the general membership.

A major project of FOR is the Raymond battlefield located approximately two miles south of Raymond, Mississippi, and the scene of a pivotal May 12, 1863, battle of the Vicksburg Campaign. Presently FOR has acquired 65 acres of battlefield property in three separate blocks, and is in the final stages of completion of a .7 mile interpretive walking trail on a 24 acre block adjacent to modern Highway 18. Property acquisition required extensive financial commitment from private citizens who banded to form FOR and purchase the initial battlefield 40 acres in 1998 for $200,000. Financial assistance was later received from Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the Civil War Preservation Trust), and an additional 24 acres were purchased. Friends of Raymond later bought additional acreage with private funding.

FOR has sponsored reenactments and living history programs as part of its interpretation mission, and lectures and tours are regularly scheduled on the battlefield. FOR has also sponsored a yearly Pilgrimage, created in 1998 to help pay for the initial land purchase, as well as the “Bedbug Play” in 2004 and 2005.

On Saturday, April 2, 2005, FOR Park Day attracted almost 100 volunteers for battlefield cleanup efforts to remove over 30 tons of trash that were illegally dumped on the battlefield. The FOR Park Day was awarded the title of Best Park Day in the Nation by the Civil War Preservation Trust, as well as a $1,000 first prize.

On Saturday, April 30, 2005, FOR volunteers hosted a luncheon for 150 members of the Chicago Civil War Round Table as another fund-raiser for FOR’s historic preservation mission. Also in 2005 members of the Civil War Preservation Trust Advisory Council were taken on two separate tours of the Raymond battlefield.

In 2005 FOR began the restoration of badly damaged 105-year-old cast iron cannon carriages donated by Vicksburg National Military Park. The carriages were picked up at Vicksburg and taken to Raymond by FOR members over two volunteer work weekends. The cannons are being built to exacting specifications after painstaking research and an archeological survey by FOR volunteers as to which calibers were used at Raymond. In 2005 FOR placed one cannon on the battlefield and one cannon on the Raymond Town Square--both in highly visible places to advertise FOR’s battlefield preservation efforts. On Park Day, April 1, 2006, FOR placed five additional cannon in position, and will eventually place 25 cannon on the Raymond battlefield. Upon completion of the cannon project, Raymond will be the only military park in the nation to boast a one-to-one cannon ratio, which means that one modern cannon will be on the field for each one that was placed in combat on May 12, 1863 (22 Union and three Confederate).

FOR is working closely with Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) in the research, design, and placement of an interpretive kiosk and eight interpretive markers on the Raymond battlefield. Work began on this project in August 2005.

FOR has contributed to the restoration of the Hinds County Courthouse in Raymond, and the upstairs courtroom floors and the stairwell have been refinished and restored to their original beauty.

In 2005 FOR designed a Raymond Military Park 7’ by 3” granite marker for placement at the interpretive walking trail. The application was approved by the Historic Preservation Division of MDAH, as the Raymond Battlefield is a Mississippi Landmark. The marker will be placed at the trail before year’s end, 2006.

FOR believes in local responsibility for historic preservation, and prides itself in its ability to develop and nurture partnerships with public and private organizations. At the national level FOR has worked with the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Civil War Preservation Trust, and the National Park Service, to include the Vicksburg National Military Park, the Natchez Trace Parkway, and the American Battlefield Protection Program. At the state level FOR works with Mississippi Department of Archives and History and Mississippi Department of Transportation, and has worked with Pennsylvania State University on touring programs. FOR also has excellent working relationships with PBS&J, Neel-Schaffer Engineering, Blue and Gray Education Society, and the Civil War Round Table of Chicago. But the final responsibility for the preservation mission of Raymond and the surrounding area is proudly assumed by Friends of Raymond.