National park site proposed for Ste. Gen

Plans are taking shape that could include some French Colonial sites in Ste. Genevieve in the National Park System, a proposal welcomed by both preservationists and tourism officials.

The proposed French Colonial Heritage Area would include the Bequette-Ribault, the St. Gemme-Amoureux and the Wilhauk homes along St. Mary's Road along with related structures and sites.

The Wilhauk home, currently the Creole House Bed and Breakfast, is not a historic site but would serve as the heritage area's interpretive center. Preliminary plans also call for the construction of a library dedicated to Ste. Genevieve and French Colonial history.

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri has introduced a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of designating the French Colonial Heritage Area as a unit of the National Park System. The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Ste. Genevieve has some of the rarest artifacts of the French Colonial period. They include two of the five vertical post-in-ground log cabins that still exist in the United States. The St. Gemme-Amoureux house is an example.

Le Grand Champ, also known as the common field, is an area near the Mississippi River that has retained its agricultural use since the late 18th century. The French divided the land into long narrow lots that ran from the river to the town.

To historians and historic preservationists, these and other sites are a priceless part of American history.

"This is probably the best place you can imagine to interpret the French Colonial heritage in the U.S.," said Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff, head of the Historic Preservation Program at Southeast.

A year and a half ago

Doug Eiken, director of the Division of State Parks, instigated the movement toward national protection of the resources at a meeting with local officials a year and a half ago. Both the St. Gemme-Amoureux and Bequette-Ribault houses were damaged by the Flood of 1993.

"In discussing those resources with people in Ste. Genevieve, it became apparent they needed to be interpreted together," Eiken said, "that there may be a larger story there not adequately represented elsewhere in the country."

Bond's bill states that "no unit of the National Park System has comparable historical features proving the cultural backdrop required to adequately interpret the story of the early French settlers in the United States."

The state currently operates the St. Gemme-Amoureux House while the Bequette-Ribault House is privately owned. Le Grand Champ is owned by private farmers, but its use is restricted to agriculture because it is protected by the federal levee build after the Flood of 1993.

Eiken describes the current situation as "kind of a mishmash."

He foresees a project that would be developed cooperatively between federal, state and local organizations but probably managed by a single entity.

Ste. Genevieve already has a National Historic District. That means certain properties have been designated as historically important. The heritage area designation would narrow the district to particular sites of historic significance and provide protection.

"The resources we are talking about are so significant that there is no other use for them," Stepenoff said. "You wouldn't want to alter them. They should be preserved and opened up to the public."

Making a destination

A National Park designation should have a significant impact on tourism to the area, Eiken said. "There are times when a national historic site might be designated where the impacts are more educational. ... In this case it would give Ste. Genevieve and Missouri one more major reason to be placed on people's travel agendas."

If the bill passes, acquiring the appropriation will take a year followed by a year of study.

Stepenoff has endorsed the plan as a member of the Missouri Parks Association Board of Directors. The plan also has the backing of the Ste. Genevieve Chamber of Commerce and the Ste. Genevieve County Office of Economic Development.

Marv Harmon, director of economic development for Ste. Genevieve County, said the project is something the area long has been looking for. "Ste. Genevieve is pretty much a side trip for visitors to St. Louis area. This would give us an opportunity to be a destination point."

Frank Myers, president of the Foundation for the Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, said the protection of Ste. Genevieve's historic treasures is too big a project to be under taken locally.

"We have always wanted something of this nature. It is a way of trying to put it together and getting real professional advice ... into how our assets could be used and kept from being destroyed."

The issue of who would control the heritage area is an important issue the study must address, Myers said, particularly where Le Grand Champ is concerned. "They are rich agricultural lands. They are important historically but are also important economically to the current owners."

But Myers says the project is exciting for Ste. Genevieve.

"It presents us with a tremendous opportunity."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182