The Southeastern Region

In 1993 the Conservancy established the Southeastern Regional Office near Atlanta, GA. This region’s territory includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Bill Kerrigan served as the first regional director until March 1995 when Alan D. Gruber took over the position. Jessica Crawford was hired to lead the region and moved the office to Mississippi in 2006. In 2019 Nikki Mattson was hired as the region’s Field Representative.

Of the almost 80 sites in the Southeastern Region, 25 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and five are National Historic Landmarks. These sites represent a diverse collection of time periods and cultures, from Paleo-Indian habitation sites to a French settlement on the Gulf of Mexico, from a Mississippi plantation to a Georgia island with the oldest documented pottery in North America, and from Woodland period mounds to a historic blast furnace. The preserves in the Southeastern region hold rich clues to help tell the story of our nation’s history.

Acquisitions in the Southeast Region began with the donation of Boone’s Mounds, a large eight mound site on the Ouachita River in Arkansas. In 1986, the Conservancy began a long-term project to acquire land that would eventually become Parkin Archaeological State Park. The Conservancy began a similar project in Alabama, when in 1996, it began acquiring tracts to be incorporated into Old Cahawba Archaeological Park in Alabama.

Though the Conservancy does work with a variety of agencies to ensure the preservation of certain sites, many acquistions remain Conservancy property and are managed as archaeological preserves. Some of the more significant preserves in the Southeastern region include: Alexander Mound in Tennessee, Lyon’s Bluff in Mississippi, Bates 1 Mound in Mississippi, Bayou Portage Guidry in Louisiana, Cary Mound in Mississippi, Ingomar Mound in Mississippi, Caney Bayou Mound in Louisiana, Sawyer Mound in Georgia, Foxwood Farms in South Carolina, McClellan Mound in Arkansas, a portion of the Ancient Gulf Shores Canal in Alabama, the Walraven Site in Florida, and Waters Pond in Florida.