By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

BARRY, Ill. -- Plans by the Archaeological Conservancy could help the New Philadelphia Association reach its goal for the site of the first community platted by an African-American.

The New Mexico-based conservancy wants to buy "nine acres that most people think of as being New Philadelphia" from the New Philadelphia Trust established by landowners Larry and Natalie Armistead, said New Philadelphia Association President Phil Bradshaw.

"It's a positive step for New Philadelphia," Bradshaw said. "It's the ultimate goal -- to purchase the land and have it preserved for perpetuity."

Details of the sale, announced in the Fall 2009 issue of American Archaeology magazine, should be finalized "by the end of the week," said Paul Gardner, the conservancy's Midwest regional director based in Columbus, Ohio. "It's a great site. It's a very interesting part of the nation's history."

The conservancy's interest in the site followed review of archaeological reports from the site, its selection as a National Historic Landmark and ties in with the ongoing effort to designate the site as a national park.

"The Archaeological Conservancy is probably the most prominent nonprofit organization in the U.S. for conserving archaeological sites. It's terrific to have them interested in New Philadelphia. It's another recognition how significant the site is," said Chris Fennell, New Philadelphia field school co-director and assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois.

"They've got a tremendous track record and experience in how to be a steward for a site, to hold and protect it as community members decide what is best for the future."

The conservancy stresses preservation of its sites.

"The Archaeological Conservancy buys sites in order to permanently protect them so they'll be available to professional archaeologists to do research there in perpetuity," Gardner said.

"We're going to encourage the people working out there to keep doing their research, and now they have the luxury of time to do it. The site won't have a Wal-Mart on it in a generation or two," he said.

"The Archaeology Conservancy considers any site on private land to be endangered. It eventually will be owned by someone who doesn't care about it. In the U.S. there are very few laws to protect archaeological sites on private land, and as a result, we've lost a tremendous portion of the archaeological record."

The purchase should have no effect on the planned National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program field school slated for summer 2010 -- or on future possibilities for the site.

"All along we've made sure their objectives and the New Philadelphia Association's objectives are parallel and everybody knows up front our desire to have this move forward to the next step of being a national park," Bradshaw said.

"It certainly seems to us the National Park Service would be the appropriate agency to interpret the New Philadelphia site," Gardner said.

The conservancy has worked with the National Park Service many times in the past, Gardner said, to buy sites and hold them until all the paperwork has been finalized.

"People make jokes about a slow-moving process that it takes an act of Congress to get it done. To create a national park, it takes two acts of Congress, an authorization and an appropriation," Gardner said. "Once the conservancy has it, people can know nothing bad is going to happen while they get all the ducks in a row to make that happen."

The conservancy continues to look for other archaeological sites to protect for the future.

"If people know about archaeological sites and are interested in seeing them preserved, please contact us," Gardner said.

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379