Jean LaFitte National Historic Park
September 29, 2023
This park has several locations, of which, I went to two of them. Barataria Preserve has numerous hiking trails in the swamp. Over half of the trails were closed for storm cleanup and even the ones open were not in the greatest shape. I went down the Bayou Coquille trail to see creeper vines, spanish moss, big spiders and closed viewing stations of the swamp. I saw a cute alligator in the algae choked water along the twin canals trail.
Chalmette Battlefield and Cemetery is where the Battle of New Orleans took place during the war of 1812. The plantation houses that were the headquarters are long gone but the canal and earthen embankments are in place with several cannons that are the type/size that would have been used. This battle is kind of cool historically as Andrew Jackson led the US forces against the British. He did not have enough soldiers, so a militia was formed of divisions of New Orleans volunteers, free people of color (their term) and Jean LaFitte’s men who were pirates and smugglers. The smaller and obviously less trained US forces prevailed repelling the invading British. There is a walking and auto tour with an old cemetery next door that has mostly civil war soldiers.
Link to National Park Service: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
