November 3, 2009
The National Park Service proposes to rehabilitate and restore the Shirley House at Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi. The Shirley House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of only two remaining antebellum structures in the park.
Since the early 1900s, the structure has undergone several episodes of restoration and rehabilitation. A substantial portion of the interior finishes were gutted during the first phase of a remodeling project in the 1960s, but were never replaced, resulting in missing, damaged, or weak support beams and framing members. Emergency stabilization measures have been implemented in recent years, but the building remains closed to the public and access is limited only to those park employees performing necessary inspections and repairs.
These concerns have been addressed in this environmental assessment (EA), and 3 alternatives are considered.
We invite you to review the preferred alternative treatment plan and environmental assessment and provide your comments. We want your opinion on how well the alternative achieves the desired objectives.
We will consider your comments and make adjustments to the preferred alternative before finalizing the documents.
We sincerely thank you for your feedback as we move forward with this significant endeavor.
Vicksburg National Military Park