The Historic Natchez Foundation recently honored a number of people and groups that made a significant impact on the city’s historic preservation efforts. One key honoree was missing, however, but its omission is not surprising.

All of the recipients honored at the foundation’s annual meeting were deserving of praise and recognition.

Private property owners received honors for their work in restoring residential structures.

An author was honored for her book regarding a famous and historical murder case from Natchez.

The nonprofit group F.O.R. Natchez earned praise for its efforts to create a strategic development plan for downtown Natchez.

But missing from the award was perhaps the most deserving group of all, the Historic Natchez Foundation itself.

As it has for many decades, HNF quietly works to help so many of our citizens and businesses help preserve Natchez’s unique history — our treasured historic structures.

Without the Foundation, it is quite likely Natchez would not be nearly as well preserved as it is today. In fact, we shudder to think about just how many fewer historic buildings Natchez might have standing if the Foundation were not to exist.

While we applaud all of the recent award recipients, we also point out that Natchez likely would not be Natchez were it not for the Foundation and its focus on Natchez.