Exploring Abandoned Fort Pike

hey what's up everybody noel ladies here and i'm coming to you from louisiana more specifically fort pike we're gonna go check this place out come join me built in 1827 fort pike has survived a lot over the years of its existence interestingly it shares its name with pikes peak in colorado both were named after general zebulon montgomery pike general pike was born in 1779 and was a united states army officer and an explorer in 1805 he led a team through the newly purchased louisiana territory to find the source of the mississippi river which he incorrectly found to be lake leech in minnesota on his journeys he also made peace treaties with indian tribes and claimed land pike served in the war of 1812 becoming a brigadier general but was killed during the battle of york in 1813 there were several coastal fortification systems built in the united states after the revolutionary war the first system which was somewhere between 1794 to 1808 was mostly forts built of wood and dirt most of these had deteriorated by the time the war of 1812 came around the second system of forts were somewhere between 1808 and 1816. these were also primarily wooden and dirt structures but they were better engineered by the newly formed army corps of engineers however not enough were completed which left many coastal areas vulnerable to attack during the war of 1812. the third system forts fall somewhere between 1816 and 1867 by this time president james madison had appointed a board of directors to oversee the building of coastal forts these would be much stronger fortifications and reinforced with brick heavy masonry and wood these forts were developed because they found there were too many areas vulnerable to attack during the war of 1812. they didn't want to make the same mistakes prior to the war of 1812 the second system fort petit coquille or little shells was built on a location chosen based on advice from jean lafitte the pirate the location was not far from where fort pike is now and its purpose was to protect new orleans from being taken by the british it was a wooden structure and it was much smaller than fort pike fort petit coquille did not see much action and was deemed to be useless by andrew jackson there's not really anything left of it other than part of the land it sat on the rest is underwater and sometimes parts of the old fort can be seen rising from the water at very low tides the third system fort pike was built nearby fort pike was designed by simon bernard who was a french general under napoleon he was in command of engineers in charge of fortifications made a knight of the empire eventually became colonel and then named aide decamp to napoleon he arrived here in 1816 and was given the rank of brigadier general and made use of his engineering skills to help the united states some of the other forts he designed were nearby fort mccomb fort monroe in virginia fort morgan in alabama and several others fort pike was built to protect new orleans from a naval force entering lake pontchartrain from the rigolese pass if someone were to enter the lake they would have great advantage to attack new orleans it was built to be manned by a garrison of about 400 men during wartime during peacetime the garrison was much less usually around 80 or so but generally was just one sergeant who was a caretaker for the fort when nothing was going on fort pike would be used during several major events though it never saw battle from 1835 to 1842 it was used as a staging area for troops being sent to florida during the second seminole war it was also used to hold several hundred seminole prisoners and their slaves as they were transported to reservations in oklahoma it was used during the mexican-american war from 1846 to 1848 to stage troops on their way to fight at the early ages of the civil war in winter of 1861 a lone ordinance sergeant was left in command and threatened to blow up the fort when confederate sympathizers arrived to take command he ultimately surrendered the fort after a long standoff during the civil war the confederates were in control of the fort until 1862 when the union captured new orleans before the confederate soldiers left fort pike they set fire to the fort and some nearby structures and spiked the cannons making the fort little use to union forces when they arrived the union after making repairs to the fort used fort pike as a base to control water traffic to and from lake pontchartrain it was also during this time that many former slaves and free men of color came to join the military and trained to fight in the war when the war was over troops remained until about 1871 then turned over to a caretaker sergeant in 1884 the fort was put on a list for disposal but ultimately was just abandoned after a marsh fire in 1890 in 1928 the state of louisiana took possession of fort pike it was then added to the louisiana state park system in the 1930s and would open to the public for visitation in 1972 when there was a renewed interest in historic preservation the old fort was placed on the national register of historic places although the fort was slowly deteriorating it was still in shape to have thousands of visitors yearly until hurricane katrina hit in 2005. the entire structure was submerged underwater from the storm surge this further damaged a lot of the old walls after some major restoration though it reopened in may of 2008 but three months later hurricane gustov hit causing more damage to the structure it would reopen in june of 2009 and would stay open until 2012 when hurricane isaac hit which kept it closed until july of 2013. unfortunately due to lack of funding fort pike was closed permanently in february of 2015 and has not been open to the public since fort pike is a triangular shaped fortress with a ring of cannon batteries on top and inside the structure with openings to allow the cannons to fire through there are semicircular rings of concrete and iron where the cannons could pivot and aim for their target there are a system of moats around the fort that protect the three bastions facing the land side and the water side is arched so it could offer protection at any angle in the center of fort pike is the citadel it was a two-story brick structure within the walls of the fortress it was mainly used as a barracks it was also designed to be a last-ditch defense fort within a fort originally this was a beautiful building that had greek columns and wrought iron winding stairways on either side out in front of the fort sits a few cannons but they are not original to the fort they actually come from fort livingston down by grand isle as i make my way up this small hill fort pike reveals itself and man is it impressive it's really a beautiful day to be out here i'm also joined by dudley not patrick douay in likens films i'll put their links in the description below i want to make it very clear that we have gotten permission to be here by the louisiana department of state parks and we're escorted by a volunteer for the forts to guide us around safely please understand that this is not open to the public and no trespassing is allowed there are no trespassing signs and cameras all around the fort and anyone caught trespassing could face time in jail it is not safe to come here unescorted without proper permission so a huge thanks to patrick deway for getting us permission to be here and for escorting us around safely i haven't been here since i was a kid my dad actually brought me here back in the 80s and i vaguely remember walking around look at this the water is actually coming over the bridge a bit and with every step i can feel the water oozing up through the boards here we are walking through the front doors to a 200 year old fortress they went to vicksburg this here is the old citadel that stands in the center before you can see it's crumbling and deteriorating but surprisingly is in pretty good shape check it out the small opening was one of the windows now not all the bricks that we're looking at are original to the structure some have been replaced during a restoration phase but it is still crumbling and not very safe to be around check it out this is where one of the columns would have been for the second floor balcony that was once here and up here is what's left of the iron fastener that held it in place and you can really see the floor that was in front of the citadel it's mostly grown over now but taking a look inside the citadel you can see all these little openings that served as like little windows for gun holes so this plaque here was added in 2000 and it says in respectful memory of the ancestors our clan brothers sisters and grandparents who fought and died for us and were forced out of their homelands in florida during the seminal wars of removal 1835 to 1858 and were brought as prisoners to fort pike and route to indian territory in the west here's another plaque that was added in 2009 that honors a seminal war chief named jumper who according to this was a great warrior who served his family relatives and fellow seminoles in the time of great upheaval as a resistance leader in the war against indian removal inside one of the many tunnels it's pretty dark but you can see the stalactites hanging from the ceiling from years of water seepage from above now the ground is a bit slippery and forgive the very low light as it's pretty dark in here my light doesn't help a whole lot but there's a ton look at this there's a ton of these little crabs running around in here look at this little guy i was walking in i saw about 10 of these all running away the smaller tunnel leads to the room next door i guess they would pass weapons and other items through here to each other and here you can see where the large cannon would sit the semi-circular ring that allowed the cannon to pivot and the groove in the ground so it can move forward and backwards [Applause] walking into the next room you can see writing on the wall and as i understand it this is graffiti from over a hundred years ago and there's some more over here i think i can make out the name cooper and look at the massive cracks that are in the wall looking at one of the openings in the cannon room you see the surrounding moat in the lake off in the distance there the opening has been barred closed and next to that tunnel is the blacksmith furnace the tunnel leading to where the blacksmith furnace was is full of algae and it's really really slippery i got to be very careful in here and the room itself is flooded this would be where the blacksmith for the fort would maintain and repair weapons and other items looks like i'm gonna be getting my feet wet again this is a pretty big room and you can see where the fire pit probably was next to this opening just next door is another cannon room but check this out this hallway leads to this crazy looking wooden structure it's a support structure for the rooms it was added about 10 to 20 years ago it's to hopefully help keep the brick structure from caving in i've also been told there have been other proposals to help fix up the fort but this seemed to be the least expensive way to go for now [Music] [Music] some of these rooms were probably just used for supply storage or whatever but look in the back you can see an opening where things are probably passed through to the other side here's the tunnel leading to yet another cannon room it's all pretty much the same all the way around i'm not going to go in every single room here this section of the yard is completely underwater now we're on the back side of the citadel and you can see look at all the tunnels for the cannon rooms yeah this cannon room is definitely flooded i'm not gonna go in there look you can see all of the gun hole ports here all the the rifle holes or whatever they were called there's a lot of them well i see a set of stairs there's only one thing to do let's go up and take a look at the top of the fort it is gorgeous up here from up here you can really see the condition of the outer wall some of which have fallen over the volunteers that come out here to clean up really do a great job keeping this place as clean as they can get it when they're able to get out here this is a great view of the highway 90 chef mentor bridge you can really get a better view of how the citadel looks from up here so this tunnel leads to the gunpowder magazine this would be where they would have stored the gunpowder probably in wooden barrels let's listen to this one also has one of those wooden support structures built to keep the room from caving in on itself it'll be nice if this place could reopen again at some point although the cost would be pretty high to get it to a point where it's safe for visitors to really walk around it would be worth it this is a huge part of our history as a country and people should be able to see this stuff in person to learn about it and experience something from that period of time really want to thank the louisiana department of state parks for allowing us to come out here today it was an honor to see this site up close like this i'd also like to thank the fort pike volunteer fire department and a big thanks to patrick deway for helping us get permission to come out here and for escorting us around safely and providing so much amazing information about fort pike and its history well that's going to do it for me thanks for watching i hope you enjoyed a little lanyard from this hood at go pass a good time [Music] you

Channel: NOLADEEJ

Views: 21,624

Keywords: exploring, abandoned, fort Pike, new orleans, louisiana, lake Pontchartrain, abandoned fort, exploration, urbex, urban exploration, abandoned buildings, old fort, old forts, urban decay, coastal forts, united States forts, third system forts, louisiana forts, louisiana fort, fort macomb

Id: YNScO_LKWWA

Length: 19min 52sec (1192 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 24 2020