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Fort Pike, 27100 Chef Menteur Highway, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA

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Fort Pike, 27100 Chef Menteur Highway, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA

description

Summary

2014 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Second Place
Significance: Fort Pike was the first of the Third System Fortifications. Considered part of the "Monroe forts of the 1st class," the fort was one of the many forts planned by President James Monroe in order to defend the United States' great cities and vulnerable waterways that led into the interior of the nation. Fort Pike and its sister fort, Fort McComb, were the first permanent American structures reflecting a defensive position on land and water defense. Strategically placed near the site of old Fort Petite Coquilles to guard the passage known as The Rigolets, Fort Pike lies on a peninsula between Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain. Both lakes provide access to the city of New Orleans and openings into the Mississippi River. With this sensitive location, Fort Pike was responsible for the protection of a major port city and our Nation's interior. When first constructed, the fort was separated from The Rigolets by a narrow strip of land between the inner and outer moat. Today this narrow strip no longer exists leaving the main part of the fort exposed to wave action from The Rigolets, which in turn is accelerating the deterioration of the fort (Castille, 1-3). Within the last 140 years, the shoreline along The Rigolets has receded as much as 500 feet in some locations, and as much as 200 feet in the vicinity of Fort Pike (Groene).

The significance of HABS documentation of Fort Pike is threefold: its architectural significance to military fortifications, its historical significance to coastal fortifications, and finally, its perilous condition within the coastal eco-system of Louisiana. If the present predictions regarding coastal land loss and global climate change hold true, Fort Pike is at risk, at a minimum, of being more severely damaged and at a maximum, completely destroyed and erased. Some professionals have already begun to take action in the preservation efforts towards Fort Pike. John Milner Associates, a team of architects and archeologists based out of Alexandria, Virginia, provided designs for the fort and its site. Most significantly the team designed wooden structures that sit in the corner casemates of the fort and work to stabilize the structure in the event of further structural deterioration.

The HABS documentation would create a permanent archive of the structure and would contribute to the legacy and record of Louisiana's coastal built environment and the United States' system of coastal defense fortifications.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2095
Survey number: HABS LA-204
Building/structure dates: 1819-1826 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: after. 1840- before. 1849 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: after. 1850- before. 1855 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1868-1869 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 72000557

date_range

Date

1933 - 1970
place

Location

louisiana
create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

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