A landmark familiar to passers-by on U.S. 61 just south of Rolling Fork could have new life breathed into it as a federal center to tell part of the history of the Mississippi Delta.

The structure is known as the Red Barn, which is what it is, and is at the forefront of sites being considered for the South Delta Interpretive Center.

The location’s proximity and visibility from the historic highway makes the barn site a top choice of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

About 74 sites were considered, then narrowed to 38 attempting to satisfy plans for a central site near the Holt Collier and Theodore Roosevelt bear hunt site, according to a Baton Rouge-based Gulf South Research Corporation report.

Holt Collier, famed outdoorsman who was born a slave and served as a Confederate soldier, guided President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1902 hunt at Smedes in Sharkey County. The precise location of the hunt has been lost to time, but events of that day gave rise to the Teddy bear based on a newspaper cartoon showing the president declining to shoot a cub that had been corralled for him. Roosevelt hunted in the area’s bottomland hardwoods at least twice, on Mississippi and Louisiana sides of the Mississippi River

Potentially sitting on 33 acres, the interpretive center will provide educational opportunities for the region, classrooms, informative sessions, walking trails, along with the Indian mounds on the land, said Philip Hollis, senior project manager.

The center could serve the public and offer information for tourists, said property owner Bernard Deaton.

“It’s an educational center, more or less,” Deaton said. “We thought it would be beneficial for the geographical area.”

Excited that the property is being considered, Deaton said his family agreed to make the land, which has been in his family for about 100 years, available if the deal moves forward.

Along with the property’s intended uses, the Deatons and the Corps agreed to preserve the classic barn, which Deaton said was built in 1914 and once housed show horses.

Hollis said although the barn is strongly considered, Congress has not chosen an official location or name for the center.

Congress has, however, allotted $6 million to fund the project that is expected to be centered in Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren, Washington and Yazoo counties.

“It’s still in site acquisition process,” Hollis said. “ We’re hoping we can get this done soon.”

Hollis said he hopes plans, specs and any construction will be completed in “a couple of years or sooner, if we can.”

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com