Fort Pike's Rebirth

After being ravaged by Katrina and being damaged by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Fort Pike is on its way back to life. We visited recently and were very happy to see the results.

click on photo for larger version



The Fort is fully open to visitors, although it is not completely renovated. Apparently a good deal of the historical pieces related to the Fort were shipped up to Shreveport before Katrina and many are still there pending completion of the resurrection of this historic site.





For two dollars you can enter the Fort and explore all it has to offer. I'd say it was money well spent on our part. I'm not much of a history buff, but I found the Fort fascinating.



Right inside the entry way is an oar that shows the flood levels from previous hurricanes.



As you can see, the oar is as tall as the doorway.



The line for Katrina's floodline is higher than the oar.

The first room to the right of the entryway holds all sorts of ammunition.












A little archway brings you to the interior of the Fort.





There are doors along the walls of the Fort that lead to different functional areas. I enjoyed looking at the details in the brickwork.



We entered one of the arched doors and were presented with this awe-inspiring picture



(at least I found it awe inspiring!)

In this photo, the area down the middle of the floor was used to bring the cannons in to place them in the windows looking over the Pass.



Back out into the main area, we found the citadel



This looks like where the current refurbishing effort is taking place. The walls are all painted white to provide the visitor with a "pleasing" view of how life used to be at the Fort.



Across from the citadel is the blacksmith's shop. This room was most interesting, as what appears to be the actual tools are in this area. Decide for yourself from these picutres.



















Nearby the Blacksmith's Shop is the Commissary







This plaque, hanging outside the Blacksmith Shop, is a dedication to those Indians that were brought to Fort Pike during the Seminole War.



My thinking is that they were put in the bricked in "jail" section in the middle of the Fort.



This photo depicts the old world versus the present. Touring Fort Pike does bring one back in history. As I said before, this is definitely worth the $2.00 entry fee, even for non history buffs.